


Oh Captain, my Captain

by Elica



Series: Crossing the path of giants [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Childhood, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Bad Parenting, Canonical Character Death, Elementary School, F/M, M/M, Seizures, Triggers, Very big divergence, lots of feelings, lots of fluff, there is fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-07
Updated: 2013-10-17
Packaged: 2017-12-25 22:09:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 33,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/958157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elica/pseuds/Elica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles Stilinski has lost his mother during the summer. Going back to school is hard, but he has a new teacher, Mr. Jack Hale. Stiles finds comfort in this friendly adult, while his father drowns in alcohol. This is a tale of growing up, of befriending nerds , of loving every one and discovering a strong teenager can be as broken as a young kid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I don't like olives

Claudia died in the middle of July. The day he came back to school, the boy was less than the mess he has been during the summer but still. It wasn’t easy. Wanting to get back to a normal life for the sake of his son and himself, John Stilinski got back to work the same day Stiles sat at his desk in Beacon Hills Elementary School. The morning has been tense and silent, neither of them wanting or able to break into conversation. Summer was easier: no work, no school and John’s mother took care of her grandchild more than she should have. Now was time to be in the real life again.  
Stiles had not so much friends at school, for he was “the” crazy kid every class has, always alone, reading a book and playing by himself. And now he was an orphan, which was worse: kids whispered, teachers took pity in him, but none of them knew how to handle hiMr.  
So Stiles walked to his classroom, sat at a desk, near the window, and waited for the class and the new year to begin.  
“Hello everybody! Nice to meet you!”  
Several heads shot up when the teacher walked into the rooMr. There was surprise on their faces but Stiles gave the man a bored eye before going back to watch the Lacrosse stadium outside.  
“Mrs. Johnson had to leave early for her pregnancy and your school asked me to replace her for this year. I’m Mr. Hale. I hope we will do great work together.”  
The teacher looked overly enthusiastic, if not a little nervous. He had strange cheekbones and light brown hair and was just old. Stiles wondered why, when he observed him – outside was getting boring – a so old teacher was doing replacement. Was he that bad?  
Mr. Hale gave each of them a paper they had to complete with names, address, phone number (“In case of emergency like surprise birthday or sport events!”), name and jobs of both parents (Stiles gave a face at this, he has been so proud to write “librarian” in front of “Claudia Stilinski” the previous years), favorite colours and even less loved food.  
“Now,” said Mr. Hale when they gave back their papers, “I’ll give you the hour we have before the break to write down the best memory of your summer. You don’t need to make it perfect but I’ll very much like to read proper English, thank you very much. Just tell me what you did, even if was for one day. I’ll read your information papers and if you have any question, just raise your hand. And Greenberg, you can go to the toilet, just ask. You don’t need to move on your chair like this; I won’t eat you.”  
There was a strange smile on Mr. Hale’s face when he said that and the light caught his eyes with gold. That was unusual. Though Stiles was more preoccupied by his writing duty. A good memory of his summer? Hell if he was doing this. Instead, the boy started decorating his textbook with tiny flowers and mini robots. His grandma has offered him a brand new set of colored pens and he was going to test all of them.  
He gave back to Mr. Hale a blank page.

He knew this was going to come back at him sooner or later. But Stiles didn’t think it would be “that” soon. He was just going to buy a sandwich (his father had forgotten to prepare one this morning and had just time to give him money) and walk to the playground to eat it when Mr. Hale came into view. The teacher didn’t seem angry but maybe confused and what? Annoyed? Sorry? Stiles tried to escape. Maybe he could find Heather, one of the only girls who would talk to him (they had the same baby-sitter when they were four and still played from time to time), and have a normal schoolboy day without being noticed by a teacher. But it was already too late and Stiles found himself sitting in the classroom, MR. Hale across him and offering a piece of pizza.  
“Pizza?”  
The man shrugged.  
“I was very late this morning, he said. It was the only food I found at home and thank God, the teachers’ room has a microwave. So I… we can eat it warm and not cold.”  
Stiles considered the food suspiciously. There was cheese and ham and meatballs. And even a little olive that he took great care to take with his fingers and put back on the plate.  
“Not a fan of olive, are we?”  
“Nope.”  
Stiles was surprisingly at ease with his teacher. Adults had been very annoying since his mum’s death, with the exception of grandma and Mrs. McCall. They were all “poor boy!” and “she was such a beautiful lady” and it made him want to puke. Or to fight. Or, more than once, to stop breathing.  
“I’m sorry, Genim.”  
“Stiles, my name is Stiles. Genim is stupid.”  
He couldn’t watch Mr. Hale in the eyes so he concentrated on the food.   
“Why are you sorry?” he asked.  
“Mrs. Johnson had to go to the hospital yesterday. She had some problems…”  
Stiles shot his head up:  
“Is she ok?”  
Mrs Johnson was a great teacher. Stiles was waiting to be in her class with so much excitement. She had the coolest projects, like the giant dinosaur her students made two years before.  
“Yes she is. But she’s expecting twins. So she has to be extra careful.”  
“Oh. Ok.”  
Mr. Hale smiled softly at him.  
“So. The director called me yesterday night. He couldn’t find any other teachers but he knew I used to teach high-school ten years ago. We were in the same school at the time.”  
“Why did you stop? Were you terrible?”  
The laugh the man gave him made Stiles blush. He hadn’t meant to be mean but his mouth worked faster than his brain sometimes… Well, most of the times.  
“No Stiles. My wife had our third child and it was beginning to be very complicated. So I’m a stay at home dad. But the director here is an old friend of mine and I couldn’t refuse. And Cora is nine now. She can look for herself just well.”  
A dad at home was a very rare thing in Beacon Hills. Well, Stiles didn’t even know it existed prior to this day. Mr. Hale was going to be his future hero. Because taking care of a home? Difficult. Of a kid? Horrible. So of three kids? It should be hell. His mum has never been a big fan of housework, his father did the laundry most of the times and even Stiles was being taught to prepare food because Stilinski home was the work of a team. MR. Hale was doing all by himself since he explained Stiles his wife, Talia Hale, was the famous lawyer of Beacon Hills and was working ten hours a day. Everyday.  
“So, I got distracted,” said MR. Hale as he gave Stiles a cookie (“I cooked it on Saturday; Derek, my son, ate much of them but I saved some for myself”)  
“I got to school this morning, only knowing that I would have to take care of a nine years old’s class. I didn’t have any idea of your program, of what you had learnt last year and it was a mess. So, I didn’t know you were in my class. And I’m sorry about that.”  
That hurt Stiles:  
“You don’t want me? I know I’ve got a lot of problems but…”  
Mr. Hale raised his hand.  
“No, no, no. I didn’t say that. Mrs. Davies told me you were one of her best student, when you’re able to concentrate.”  
Stiles blushed again. Damn. He thought he liked Mrs. Davies, but knowing that a teacher could talk about him behind his back was disconcerting. He didn’t like that.  
“I’m sorry because I knew your mum Stiles. I had to keep Derek homeschooled for a while and she helped us a lot to find books for him. I was very sad when I heard she was dead.”  
Not passed away. Not disappearing. Not gone. Just dead. The hardness of the word made Stiles eyes watered but, at the same time, he was glad. There was reality in Mr. Hale’s words, something to hold on. Yes he was devastated by his mother’s death, but it was a reality, not something you couldn’t talk about. Well, he wasn’t going to talk with his dad about it. But maybe, with Mr. Hale…  
“I didn’t have a great summer, Mr. Hale,” he said, finding the words easier to say out loud than he thought.  
“I can’t begin to know what you felt Stiles. But I believe you. I saw your blank paper and I felt guilty. Still, if I hadn’t made this mistake this morning, we wouldn’t have eaten this fabulous pizza!”  
Stiles made a face:  
“You know, it was not that good.”  
And here was his tongue again. Crap. He tried to make up for it:  
“We aren’t pizza’s specialists at home, but we always have take out at Giorgio’s. It’s the best!”  
“I’m afraid we never tried this place. Could you give me the address?”  
“Sure.”  
And that was how their first conversation ended.  
All things considered, this first day was not as bad as Stiles thought it would be. In the evening, while he waited for his dad to get home, Stiles phoned to his best friend, Scott, who was going to another school.  
“I’ve the best teacher ever!” he said.  
“Good for you. I’m with Jackson! Miss. Simpson made me sit next to him. It’s horrible! I don’t want to go there again! Why are you going to another school?”  
“Closer to the police station, buddy. You know that. But you know what? Mr. Hale makes the best cookies ever!”


	2. I want a fox

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> M. Hale makes Stiles life better. Derek Hale has the most beautiful eyes ever. And Stiles begin to hate the whisky bottle he finds at home all too many times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Multiple triggers warnings ! Sheriff Stilinski is a bad father in there, depressed, alcoholic and absent. There is not physical abuse but Stiles is dealing hard with it.

Since he didn’t have any composition to evaluate Stiles’ English level, Mr. Hale assigned him a different homework. He had to describe each of his evenings and free times for the rest of the week, and would give it back to him on Saturday. Stiles was training with the running team at school and MR. Hale was going to be there since he was taking care of the reading club.  
“What are you reading?”  
Stiles loved to read, but reading was considered uncool and being the little lonely nerd he was, Stiles didn’t want to be even more awkward among the others boys. The reading club was a “girl thing”, after all.  
“The Little Prince,” answered Mr. Hale.  
He had just given Stiles his assignment. The boy frowned.  
“I didn’t read it. Is it good?”  
The teacher reached in his school bag and gave him a small white book with a little boy in green drawn on the cover.  
“Try it.”

Stiles began reading at the end of the day. He was waiting at the school entrance for his father. The sheriff was going to pick him up during his break and drop Stiles at home. But since his dad was late, Stiles sat down and opened the book. He was a great reader and made it to the first half of the Little Prince before someone touched his shoulder, making him jump.  
“Why are you still here, Stiles?”  
The boy looked up at Mr. Hale. The man had a frown on his face and seemed sad, like Stiles was himself. Because he knew why the sheriff wasn’t here. He forgot.   
“My dad… I thought he was going to pick me up but I think I was wrong and now the bus is not there anymore so I don’t know what to do.”  
Mr. Hale crossed his arms on his chest:  
“So you decided to just stay here? Don’t you have any emergency number?”  
Stiles sighed:  
“I guess.”  
His sadness grew heavier as he followed his teacher to the director office so they could check his file for the emergency number. It was Mrs. McCall phone number. Though Stiles knew she was at work now: every Monday, Scott would go to his neighbor waiting for her to come back.   
“I won’t do any good, Mr. Hale.”  
He explained the situation the best he could, finding it difficult to do so without weeping. He didn’t like to cry or to fall apart in front of people. It made him weak and he couldn’t do weakness. He was a big boy now and nobody had to care about him; he could care for himself alone. Well, except for going home but still.  
“I’m going to call the police station.”  
“No!”  
That was such a bad idea. Stiles felt his throat tighten. He couldn’t… But any crisis he was going to have was aborted when Melany, the secretary, pointed outside her office, which was facing the entrance window. The police car was here, with his father.   
Excusing himself, Stiles flew to the car, quite ashamed. The trip back home was tense. John didn’t give him any explanation and Stiles didn’t want to ask why he smelt like alcohol. Dad had been drinking a little too much since his grandma left and even before that, Stiles suspected she was doing as much as she could for him not to notice.   
When John dropped him in front of their house, he finally talked:  
“Sorry, kiddo. I…”  
Stiles frowned to him. He knew his dad was sad and depressed, but he was angry too. The sheriff seemed to understand that and sighed:  
“Do your homework, ok? And have a pizza or something for dinner.”  
“Will you eat with me?”  
“I don’t know. I’m sorry.”  
“That’s ok.”

That was not ok, thought Stiles when he sat on the floor, his homework on the coffee table, TV tuned on. Sometimes Scott would be very jealous of him for being able to work in front of the TV. Scott’s father made him work in the kitchen, and Scott wouldn’t be able to play before his work was done. His mother was no better but “at least she helps me when she can”. Stiles tried to explain him that it was not that great. He needed someone to be there for him and his freedom came with a hard price.  
This evening, Stiles ate a bowl of cereals, emptied his father’s whisky in the sink and stayed up late in the night to finish The Little Prince. His father did not return before three in the morning and Stiles was already asleep.  
For the week long, he took the bus, and thought that having a domesticated fox would be so much greater than an absent dad. He wrote it on his composition. He put a warning at the beginning of his paper: “Mr. Hale, I know my father is not a very good father now, but don’t tell anybody. We manage. Thanks for the book”

On Saturday Stiles went to the school early to give his paper. Mr. Hale was preparing his lessons for Monday and a teenager was doing mathematics’ exercises at one of the tables (Heather’s desk, Stiles reminded himself)  
“Oh, Stiles. Good morning!”  
Mr. Hale smiled at him.  
“Good morning, Mr. Hale. You’re here early. You don’t sleep on Saturdays?”  
“I’m not a sleeper, contrary to my son.”  
His head pointed at the teenager who lifted his chin up. He had the most fabulous eyes Stiles had ever seen. They were just surreal. Stiles must have gasped because Derek smirked and Mr. Hale tried to contain a laugh.   
“Derek is on the swimming team in his high school. But he’s a sleepy head: I woke him at seven so he won’t be late.”  
“Dad…”  
“Derek, there is no secret between me and mister Stilinski here.”  
There was a strange tone in Mr. Hale’s voice that put Stiles on his nerves. But maybe it was because of his work. When he gave it to his teacher, he bit his lower lip, feeling insecure.  
“Mr. Hale, are you going to make it read to other people?”  
“Why would I do that?”  
Stiles hesitated. He turned his head to Derek. The teen was concentrated on his own homework, so he lied over the desk and murmured:  
“You told me to write about my week, so I had to talk about my dad or the fact that he’s not here very much. But I don’t want him to have problems you know. Like with Luka’s mum?”  
“What happened to her?”  
“She wasn’t very good with her children so they made them go to a foster family. I don’t want that…”  
Mr. Hale patted Stiles on his head, smiling reassuringly.  
“Don’t worry, Stiles. Your father have a hard time now. But I’m here, and Mrs. McCall is here, and if you have any problem you can talk to us.”  
“You know Melissa?”  
“I don’t. But she’s your best friend’s mother, isn’t she? She’s a good woman?”  
“The best… After my mum.”  
He bit his lip again.  
“I’m sure of it. Do you want a cookie before going to your training?”

Training was harder than Stiles thought it would be. Teachers made them run for twenty minutes before a quick break, then again for twenty, and so on for two hours. Stiles felt his legs give up before the end of the first hour. He was a good runner, he knew that. At the end of the year, when schools of Beacon Hills organized competitions between their students, he was always on the first five or six faster kids.   
“You should have trained a bit during the summer, Stilinski! The coach shouted at him when he had to stop for the fourth time in the same session.”  
Stiles felt his anger grow inside him before realizing that the adult was just treating him like any other kids. Like he had time during his holyday to run instead of playing video games, sleeping or visiting hospitals far too much. Some adults started that: consider him like a normal boy, with his flaws, his energy, his lack of concentration. Two days ago, the school nurse called him to her desk but they didn’t talk about his mother. She just wanted to know if he was still on his Adderal and if his treatment was going well. If he was eating normally and if he had gained height during the summer.  
Some weight lightened on Stiles’ chest and he could manage the end of his training with no more problems. Though his muscles will make him suffer hell tomorrow.  
The coach got them together before letting the kids get home for lunch.  
“Alright folks! As you know this year we’ll have to take back the winning cup from Saint-Mary school. They won last year, but I think we’ll be strong enough to beat them at the Christmas competition. I’ve great faith in our marathon team.”  
The “marathon” was a strange mix between long running and cross country and Stiles liked it a lot. He could forget himself in the distance, and they would run across the preserve for maybe twenty or thirty minutes and it was beautiful.  
“For this,” the coach continued, “we’ll need to reinforce your stamina. How many of you know how to swim?”  
The majority of the kids raised their hands, as Stiles did. Well, he did swim with Scott sometimes, but he was more of a “jump in the water” than a “swim back and forth” type of guy.  
“Ok. For the one who don’t know how to swim, we’ll see with your parents if you could have some teaching lessons. Swimming will not only be good for your breathing and your stamina, but it’s also a great way to learn how your body works. You know you’re all changing, or will be in the years to come and believe me, knowing how you function will help you a lot.”  
The coach was also a biology teacher in the junior high school and Stiles heard that he was deeply involved in “teenagers problems”, like he would certainly the one to take them face to face to give them a “talk”. Stiles didn’t know really what the “talk” was about, but the speech about stamina and body looked great. His arms felt too long and if he could be less of a fuzz with them, it would be great.  
“For the ones who are already dolphins, I’ll give you a paper you must show to your parents, giving permission for you to have swimming session once a week, every Saturday afternoon. Having two or three of your parents wanting to tutor our team will be great too. Understand?”  
An unanimous “Yes coach!” answered him and Stiles found himself shouting with the others. For the first time since the beginning of the school year, he felt at ease.  
This confidence fell apart when he got home half an hour later, when he was dropped by a soccer mum and entered his living room only to find his dad lying on the couch, an empty bottle at hand reach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I didn't write in English for years. Like, ten years. And this is unbetaed. So, all faults are mine and I really hope this is not full of faults and nonsense.  
> Any beta reader will be welcome !  
> Tumblr here : http://fourrureetcapuche.tumblr.com/


	3. Vegetables are better than take-outs!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sheriff wants to talk to his son. The loss of a loved one make boys grow up too fast. And tea has a bad taste.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Same warning as before, though this chapter is lighter than the last one.  
> No Derek this time, just Stilinskis' feels all over the place! :)

Stiles was dead hungry but he didn’t want to go downstairs and see his sleeping dad. So he emptied an old chocolate bar and finished his homework before re-reading a book (it was on wild life, he kept reading again and again the little paragraph about foxes) He went as far as drawing a little fox on a paper, and started coloring it (with hazel eyes because the color was so cool and beautiful) when he heard his father going to the bathroom.  
“What are you doing, son?”  
Stiles shot his head up to see his dad hanging at his door, in fresh clothes and tired. But the smell of soap and shampoo was stronger than the one of alcohol.  
“Drawing. Mr. Hale gave me this book and now I’m a huge fan of foxes.”  
He didn’t say anything about loneliness, friendship and abandon. Of death and joy and sadness and all the things he had read in The Little Prince.  
“Have you eaten yet?”  
Stiles wondered if he should say yes. He didn’t want to worry his father, but his stomach growled suddenly, answering faster than his mouth.  
“I guess you are hungry. Come on. We’re going to the mall.”  
They took the cruiser. Dad refused to take the Jeep out of the garage. Like he couldn’t bear to sleep in his own bedroom. Or going back home every day. Sometimes, Stiles wondered if his father would have slept in his office if not for him.   
“What do you want? Pizza? Hamburger?”  
“Hm,” Stiles mused as they walked into the mall. “Sushi!”  
“What? You want me to eat these little fishes that are still alive?”  
Stiles looked at his father. The tiredness was still there, and his cheeks were still red from alcohol. He hadn’t shaved. His tee-shirt had seen better days. But there was the ghost of a smile there, and some sparks in his eyes.  
“You can have rice and chicken kebab. But I want sushi! And chicken too. And maybe some green tea.”  
“Last time you had green tea at the restaurant, mum had to finish it for you. Remember?”  
There was a crack in his voice, but they were in front of the Osaka’s Bar and Stiles let it pass and ran to a table near the aquarium. He loved the place. All black and red with chopsticks and cool strange music in the background.  
The waiter served them two cokes (“Yes Stiles, you’ll have your tea, but this is in case you want a normal drink too”) before taking their orders. Stiles wandered on his menu before noticing his father staring at him.  
“Why didn’t you eat, kiddo?”  
Stiles shrugged. They knew why. John changed the subject.  
“We’ll do some shopping this afternoon, how about that? Need anything for school?”  
“Hm, I think some of my pants are too short now. I grew up! And I need a swim truck !”  
“I thought you were in the running team.”  
“Our coach wants us to swim as training, for breathing and stamina. You have a paper to sign for that. So I’ll do sports all Saturday long beginning next week.”  
“That’s good. How was your first week in class?”  
And Stiles began talking. About Heather who finally accepted to eat her lunch with him (her best friend Jean moved out in July so now she’s a little lonely). About Lydia, in the other class, who was the most beautiful girl alive and “if I’m lucky, we’ll do the science project together! This is a mixing classes event, said Mr. Hale!” About Mr. Hale who was still the best teacher ever.  
Their plates were empty when he finished, saying his dad that he missed Scott but all things considered, that had been a good week. Not good good, but better than expected.  
“I spoke to Scott’s father this week,” told his dad while fixing the still full cup of tea on the table. “He’s going for a promotion.”  
“He wants to be sheriff? But you are!”  
“No, he wants to become federal.”  
“Like in Silence of the Lambs?”  
Stiles gulped: “I just know what the film is about, I didn’t watch it, I swear!”  
That was a lie. The Stilinski had a large collection of movies and some were totally forbidden for Stiles. He was too young. But maybe, or maybe not, he and Scott forgot this and tried to watch two or three adult movies. Scott cried on some of them. Stiles just had very manly nightmares he would never speak about.  
“Does that mean he’s going to move?”  
This was a frightening thought. John shook his head while leading him to a sport store.  
“Don’t know. He has ambition, I can tell you though. Here, it’s the swimming shelf. Do you want glasses too? I don’t want you to have bunny eyes with the water.”

John showed signs of tiredness in the middle of their shopping. They still had food to buy since the fridge was empty and they were living on frozen pizza and microwave food, and cereals on Stiles’ part. Thanks to the money his dad gave him every morning and Mr. Hale’s attention, he had real meals at school. He couldn’t be that good with breakfast (almost all missed due to late waking) and dinner (cereals if he was alone, pizza if he was with his father). They needed real food and Stiles as much as his father knew that.  
But the sheriff wasn’t concentrating. For a second, Stiles wanted them to go back home and to hell with the food. It has been a good afternoon. His dad has made an effort. But he was staring at his ring more than at the list they made back at the restaurant. It was bad.  
“Maybe we could go to the market tomorrow? Heather said they go there every week and the vegetables are better than here.”  
“I don’t know how to cook vegetables, Stiles.”  
Oh God. That was even worst. The boy tried to find a solution. Quick. People were beginning to stare at them.  
“I could learn! Remember I learnt to make an omelet this winter? I could do it again. And if I had a cook book, I could learn many stuff. Simple stuff right, because I’m a kid. But still. I could. Even mushrooms!”  
His father loved mushrooms. Mum made them once in a while just for him because she didn’t like them. Stiles neither. John sighed.  
“All right. We still need some stuff we won’t find on the market. Like what soda do you want? And coffee for me. And…”  
“Bleach!”  
“Right, bleach.”  
They wandered for a while, taking every stuff they’d need for the next week, and adding chocolate cake and some pie with meat and potatoes for their dinner.  
“You look like you could use coffee, dad,” said Stiles as they walked back to the cruiser. “We could stop at the coffee shop.”  
“You’re not saying that so you’ll have free milk-shake, are you son?”  
Dad’s voice was hollow, somehow. Stiles bit his lip. What should he do?  
“Or we go home, you take a nap while I’m setting dinner and then we’ll watch a movie together.”  
“That, I think I could do.”

His dad slept away the rest of the afternoon, waking up only at nine. Stiles had put plates in front of the television, a movie waiting to be played, and ice in their glass of fruit juice. His smile felt down a little when John added some vodka in his orange juice, but the man excused himself:  
“It will be the only one of the night. I swear.”  
“Ok.”  
It was more than they had together for the last three weeks. All afternoon together, two lunches in a row, an actual discussion.  
“Are you free next Saturday?” Stiles asked before going to bed three hours later.  
“I don’t know kiddo. I have to check my schedule. Why?”  
“If you want, you could tutor my group at the swimming pool.  
“I’ll try. I promise I’ll try.”

Next morning, his dad was on shift and there was no whisky bottle next to his coffee mug on the kitchen table. Stiles took this as a good news. He waited till ten to phone to Scott and the boys enjoyed one sunny late summer afternoon to play near the preserve, pretending their bike were transformers and ruining their clothes.  
This night, Stiles wrote his first joyful entry on the daily journal he kept writing for himself and Mr. Hale.


	4. Swimming is good for stress and anger issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles go to the swimming pool. He thinks one boy is pretty ; Danny may think that ALL boys are pretty. Still, Stiles is the one who will have a date, may be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All 4 chapters edited with better dialogue forms. Or so I hope :)  
> THANK YOU SO MUCH for the tips in the comments.  
> I LOVE comments, with tips or not ;)
> 
> Same warning as before : bad parenting.  
> Sexual awakening issues, but not that much (for now)  
> I'm trying one chapter per day. And this is Really Slow Building, in case you couldn't already tell. And I'm still hesitating to put Paige story in there or not (I really didn't like the episode though)

Dad couldn’t make it the next Saturday. He went home before dawn and kept sleeping all the way to lunch. When Stiles called him after his running training, he answered with a broken voice that the boy quickly learnt to associate with drink. He sighed deep in the phone.  
“It’s ok.”  
“No it’s…”  
“It’s ok dad. We’ve got three mothers anyway. They’re so much on our back I’m not even sure we’ll be able to swim at all. They’re so stressed. Your presence won’t do any good, believe me.”  
“I’m sorry son.”  
Stiles hung up and joined his comrades at the fast food table the club had reserved for lunch. Their coach was trying to give them salad instead of fries, saying that with greasy potatoes in their stomach, they won’t be able to swim. No one listened to him and it reminded Stiles the joyful atmosphere he had during the only school trip he had, when he was seven. Though, this time, he wasn’t as happy as then.  
The swimming pool was in the high school and Stiles felt a bit intimidated when entering the building. He won’t go there for six years and it was as if he got into another world. He knew it was stupid but there were teenagers everywhere, joking, studying, reading books that seemed so complicated. The school was able to use one of the locker rooms and the impression of strangeness stayed strong on Stiles. He looked at the other boys (the girls were in another room with the mums) and was delighted to see they were in the same awe than him. Except Danny. Because Danny never seemed surprised of anything. He was slightly smaller than any other of them, with a tan skin and big dark eyes. He was the quiet guy everyone liked but you could easily forget him if you didn’t pay attention. He was the first to be ready and Stiles joined him near the door, in just a tee-shirt and swim trunk.   
“You were already here?”  
“My big sister was in their swimming team,” Danny answered. “I watched one of her competition once.”  
“How’s the pool?”  
The other boy shrugged.  
“It’s just a pool.”  
“All right guys!”  
The coach drew back their attention.  
“Don’t run, don’t shout and don’t look for problems with the big guys here! You’re nine to eleven, they’re adults! Or near adults. You barely swim like puppies, they are sharks! And most of all, beware: there is enough people in there to look after you if you have any problem. But you won’t have any problems, is that clear? If you feel bad, at any time, ask. Understand?”  
“Yes, coach!”

The hall was packed with people. Stiles felt very tiny and young when they passed a group of teenage girls training for dive. High school students were swimming on one half of the main pool, while a group of six junior high school kids took two other lines. That left two lines for the little ones.  
The coach made them group along the edge to give them the program of the afternoon and new orders of calm and discipline.  
“Andy, Emily, Isaac, Joshua and Isabel, I know you can swim just well, so go with Mrs. Johnson and begin. Four lengths. If you feel tired, just stop. The others, once I call your name, go into the water and show me what you can do.”  
Stiles sat next to Danny, wondering if he was going to make a fool of himself or not. His eyes wandered around until he spotted a young teen going out of the water. He still was very of a boy, like Stiles was, except less baby-esque. But then, his chest and legs were kind of an athlete. Anyway, he was definitely pretty. In his young head, “pretty” wasn’t just for girls, though he wouldn’t admit it out loud. Stiles flushed and turned his gaze to speak to Danny, wanting to distract him, but his friend (he was a friend, right?) was also watching the other swimmers very closely. And then the coach called him and he returned back to reality.  
Swimming was not that hard, though coach kept telling him to be slower: “Use the water, Stilinski! It won’t do any good to move your arms around like that, except you’ll get tired! Don’t forget to breath! Good! Go back now!”  
Stiles grasped the edge and looked up at the coach. The latter did a little individual speech to him, telling his good and his bad.  
“You’re not a bad swimmer, Stilinski. But I assume you go to the swimming pool to play and not do sport, am I right?”  
Stiles just nodded.  
“Ok. You’ll go to Joshua. He’s our best one and he’ll show you some tips to breath. You’ll see the difference in no time.”  
Going to Joshua supposed to swim next to the junior high school’s lines. Where Stiles had seen the Athlete. That put the boy on his nerves. He was able to see the beauty in people: his mother was beautiful, Lydia was beautiful, the little girl living across the street was beautiful. And then there was the other beautiful beautiful. Like… Derek’s eyes perhaps. Or the Athlete’s legs. It was different in terms Stiles couldn’t quite grasp.   
Joshua was a tall black boy who played base ball, soccer and lacrosse. And he was the best runner of the running team. It seemed now that he was also a good swimmer and a great teacher. He made Stiles breathed out air under water, using only his mouth (“Only your mouth, Stilinski!” He ordered when Stiles had water in his nostrils again), then took him by the waist, making him float and ordering him around to move his arms just right.  
When he released Stiles so the boy could at least swim on his own, Stiles couldn’t stop himself from asking if he wanted to be a teacher in the future.  
“Nah, I want to be an artist.”  
Go figure.  
Well, Stiles was a living spazzy weak noodle and he still wanted to be a vigilante. To each their own.  
The two hours passed quickly and Stiles found himself in front of the swimming pool, eating a chocolate bar one of the mum’s (Emily’s) gave around. He was dead tired, but it was a good kind of tired. He could just go back home, take a shower, put on a fresh pj and cuddle with his father in front of the television. Well, if dad wasn’t already sleeping on the couch. Dead drunk.  
“What are you doing here?”  
The voice startled him and made his bad thoughts go away. Stiles turned to face none other than Derek Hale. Fuck his eyes (“Language, son!”)  
“Hm… Hi. I’m with my sport’s team. You?”  
Stiles quicked himself mentally. Of course, Mr. Hale has said his son was on the swimming team, so yes he was at the swimming pool (and wearing the official tee-shirt of his team) Derek smirked like he knew how stupid Stiles was. But he didn’t push and asked instead:  
“Any good with your movements?”  
“It’s all right. Josh’ is a great coach. He will be your nemesis when he’ll be in junior high.”  
Derek shrugged: “I’m not here for the competition.”  
“So why are you swimming?”  
Stiles was at that age where sport were for fun (team sports) or for winning (individual sports AND team sports) There was no nuance there.  
“It calms me. The water. I need it. Sometimes.”  
Another shrug.  
“How? I mean, there’s a lot of people there. How can it make you calm?”  
“I don’t know. When you’re under water, you hear less, you feel less, like you’re alone and so light you could just disappear. “  
There was a light flush on Derek’s cheek and it was the cutest thing ever (“cute” was another word that was just not only for girls, Stiles sweared!)  
“I promess.”  
“You promess what?”  
“That I won’t tell anyone you’re doing poetry about swimming.”  
Derek frowned but if he was going for the bad boy glare, he failed completely. Stiles was at ease with him and that didn’t seem strange to feel that much friendly feelings with a grown boy (like an adult, really, but not quite so)  
“What are you doing now?” Derek asked.  
“I have to go back to school for my bike and then go home.”  
“It’s on my way.”  
“You have a bike too?”  
“No, I walk.”  
“To the preserve?”  
That was unbelievable. Stiles lived in a country, in a state, where car was more than a symbol, it was a way of life. And if you were too young to have a car, you took the bus or your bike. Walking was for hiking, not going from point A to point B. That, and the preserve, where the Hales were living, was at quite a distance from where they were.  
“It’s a good walk. If we take by there,” said Derek pointing a tiny path between two houses across the street, “we can get to the park, then along the borders of the forest, and behind the junior high. So not so much far from your school. It’s a good shortcut.”  
Stiles loved shortcuts. But he didn’t know if the coach would let him go alone with Derek. Still, a shortcut… It was like a synonym for adventure and wildness and maybe even treasure!  
“Could we see foxes? Or, you know, other wild animals?”  
“I don’t know. Perhaps?”  
“Cool.”


	5. Don’t tell my teacher I think his son is cute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles hangs out with Derek. And then there's a McCall's family rescue (these guys are cool, except the father)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/

They walked in silence for a while, Derek in his usual mute state, and Stiles unsure of what to say. He knew that, in seconds, he could babble like his life depended on it. He always babbled when he was nervous so that’s it. But he didn’t want to annoy Derek with stupid kid’s stuff.

“Mrs. Johnson thinks you hung the moon. Are you into MILF?”

“Where the f… frak did you learn that word? And no, she’s just invested in Beacon Hills’ next election and she’s been throwing herself at my mom for ages. That’s all.”

“So, you’re not in all the old ladies’ stuff?”

Derek stopped in his tracks and looked at Stiles like a second head just came out of his neck.

“No Stiles! I’m fifteen! And they’re as old as my mum! Why are you asking me this?”

Stiles bit his lip (that was a bad habit he was beginning to have) and flushed. Since he didn’t say anything, Derek began walking again. They were now on the edge of the preserve, behind loads of gardens and swimming-pools. Stiles took a run to join him, babbling.

“My mouth says anything when I’m nervous and tired,” he explained. “So, I’m sorry. I’m just really tired I guess.”

“And not nervous?”

“Well, I’m near a wild forest with a guy I don’t know, so I’m nervous. But just a little bit. And I’m so hungry… Are you in love?”

“You should try yoga, you know. You’re way too stressed.”

Stiles didn’t miss the redness on Derek’s cheeks and he chuckled. He wondered why Derek hadn’t “lost” him in the forest yet. He was such a brat, he knew it, asking questions about love and so on. Judging by his face and his whole perfection, Derek would’ve been dating all the girls.

“So?”

God he needed to cut his tongue out  like, right now.

“My uncle saw a grey fox there last week,” said the older boy, pointing directly in the forest. Stiles’ attention was immediately caught.

“Really? Can we see one now?”

“I don’t think so. Uncle Peter likes to walk in the woods really early in the morning. He takes his camera so he may have some photos of it. I think I saw one but I try not to get involved in his hobby.”

“Why?”

“He makes thousands of photos. It gets tiring very fast… He describes them, each one of them, for minutes at a time.”

“He sounds like fun.”

“He’s a nerd. Of course you’ll like him.”

“My mum used to take photos of every strange graffiti and paintings she saw on the street. I think my dad keeps her collection somewhere.”

For the first time in months, Stiles didn’t have the urge to cry when speaking about his mother. He could write about her now, thanks to Mr. Hale’s constant work and encouragement, but speaking was a big deal. Speaking with Derek was easy.

Frighteningly easy.

Both boys were deep in their thoughts when they joined the road behind the elementary school. The car park was empty and Stiles could see his lonely bike from where he was standing. He had just to cross the road to get it. But he didn’t want to go back home just now. It was only 4 in the afternoon and his dad wouldn’t be at home. Or if he was, he wouldn’t be in a… sober mood.

“You still hungry?” asked Derek.

Sudden shyness caught Stiles and he shrugged.

“Yeah. Sort of.”

“I’m meeting friends at the Burger King in 20. You want to join?”

“Won’t they be bothered by a kid?”

“If they were, they wouldn’t be my friends. I’m usually stuck with baby-sitting Cora and the twins so… Got money?”

“Not really.”

“You’ll pay me back next week, ok?”

Stiles just nodded. The day was getting stranger and stranger.

 

But not nicer.

It seemed that Derek was part of the basket-ball team, thus his friends were all from that team and were loud and didn’t even spare a glance with Stiles. The boy found himself alone at the corner of the table, dealing with his hamburger and orange juice without anything to talk about or anyone to talk with.

He felt betrayed by Derek, somehow. It was stupid because Derek was just being nice with one of his father’s student. He was not his friend. You couldn’t be friends with someone you’ve just talked to five minutes ago. Though that was what happened with Scott three years ago.

Stiles finished his food quickly and stood up. He wanted to thank Derek and say good-bye but the teenager was busy talking excitedly with some jock about a girl he met in the musical room. There was no blush on his face and his voice seemed full of joy and smirking, so different from the one he had watched during their short journey.

Stiles didn’t think Derek would blame him if he went home, so he did just that. His bike was neatly locked up outside. The sky was dark and Stiles thought he had just the time to hurry home before rain broke down. It felt like the weather was agreeing with his own feelings.

 

Dad was home when he arrived, head drenched by the rain. He was sitting in front of the television, a cup of coffee in hand. He looked wrecked and tired but he stood up as soon as Stiles entered the living room.

“Oh kiddo. You’ve got bad luck with the weather. Go take a shower while I get you something to drink. How does hot chocolate sound?”

Stiles frowned but he was getting used to his father’s change of moods.

“Ok.”

The warm water was a benediction. His muscles began to feel sore from the running in the morning, swimming and walking in the afternoon. He just wanted to slump on the couch and do nothing of all evening. He got back to his bedroom, put on pjs and a warm too-big sweater.

When he went back downstairs, Scott was sitting there, with a big smile on his face.

“Hey Stiles! Surprise!”

“What are you doing here?”

“Mum said she made too much lasagna so we’re here to eat it with you. And she bought me a new game! We’re going to rock your Nintendo due!”

“Cool.”

As he was trying to sleep that night he realized that maybe Mrs. McCall did it on purpose. Maybe dad asked for some help and she indulged him. Because having another quiet and tense night with his son was too much for him to bear.

Stiles began to endure the different sorts of solitude a human being could have in his life. He hated it.

 


	6. I don’t want to be a fairy, Danny.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mr. Hale is so cool he made an Halloween project! The nerd team (Stiles, Heather, Danny and Lydia) speaks about psychiatrist and genders): yeap, the Nerd Team, that's them!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/

Days and weeks passed after the first Saturday where Stiles experimented both being in solitude and having a social life. Every week was the same, with a quick breakfast, class with Mr. Hale, assignments, lunch times with Heather and the recent addition of Danny, dinner times with his father or alone, and nights where he would go to sleep listening to his dad wandering in the living room.

Thus, Halloween came quickly. Mr. Hale and Mrs. Adams announced to their classes that they were to make projects for the school.

“You’ll be getting into groups of four, two from each class, three afternoons a week for two weeks. Each group will have a costume project. I know some of you have already been sewing with your mums and dads, or that you’re going to buy your costume at the mall so you won’t have to wear your project for Halloween, but it’s a good way to develop teamwork skills and it will be fun. Any questions?”

Stiles was delighted by this project. Mum used to sew him a superhero costume each year, but now… And he couldn’t wear the one he had last year: he had grown too much and also, Spiderman was not his favorite any more.

He paired up with Heather, and they waited impatiently in the gym to see who would work with them. Teachers were to choose, to eliminate any risk for kids to be left alone.

They ended up with Danny and… God… Lydia. His non-story with Lydia was complicated and very simple: he knew all he could about her, she didn’t know his name; he was living alone with his father, she was the last child of three with a happy mother and father; he was in a all-man house, her father was the only male of the family; she was in one of the richest family in town, and well, he was an drunk officer’s son. And she was very intelligent. He was too, when he could concentrate. They were like Romeo and Juliet except Lydia didn’t know she was Juliet and that sucked. Plus Mr. Hale said the story ended very badly so the image wasn’t that good anyway. Maybe they could be the fish and the bird, who couldn’t ever live together since the bird didn’t swim and the fish didn’t fly, but then there were ducks and flying fishes. So… they were…

“Stiles! Are you with us?”

The boy returned to reality with a faint blush. Mr. Hale leant over him, a little concern on his face.

“Do you want to talk to the nurse about your medication? Is it alright?”

Stiles nodded. If there was one thing his father did good with, it was his medication. Anything involving medication and health were number one on the sheriff’s list. At least for his son.

Mr. Hale smiled at him and stood up. The four kids were eyeing him expectantly.

“So,” he said, clapping his hands. “You four are the smartest kids around, though I’m not really allowed to say that, but it will remain our secret.”

Lydia nodded seriously, Danny frowned whereas Heather and Stiles, used to their teacher’s behavior, smiled.

“I’m expecting a great project from you, with characters that will be another image of you. To say it simple, if you have the heart of kindness towards animals, dress up as a veterinarian. Obviously, since it’s Halloween, it would be a special sort of veterinarian…”

“Like a werewolf one?” asked Stiles.

Mr. Hale eyed him in silence before beaming: “Exactly like that Stiles! Good point. So, anyway, that’s what your goal is. It would be even better if you all dress up as characters of the same world or same movie, cartoons, or whatever you like. When you come up with a decision, we’ll work on how to build your outfit.”

 

Danny was a really organized kind of boy. In less than five minutes, he had handed them each a piece of paper where they had to write down: their favorite characters on one column and what they thought they were in another. It was hard. Danny said the second column was optional since “it’s hard to tell who you are by yourself, that’s what my therapist said.”

“You have a therapist?” asked Heather. 

“I’ve got one too, but I don’t like her,” said Stiles.

“Child psychiatry is just something made to take money from our parents,” added Lydia.

“I don’t know,” said Stiles. “I don’t like her, but I feel better after.”

“I really don’t think I’m sick. I don’t say that you’re sick, Stiles. But I’m not… I… Oh I’m sorry, I was rude.”

Danny was very kind. It made Stiles smile.

“Doesn’t matter. Still, I think in some cases it can do good. But it’s very expensive, though I asked her if it would cost my father too much and she said that it was not my problem, which is not very fair. Since it’s my head, you know. And if my father is broke, I’ll need to go to work instead of going to school.”

“There’s no child work in California,” said Lydia, rolling her eyes.

“There could be. That’s the point!”

“Ok, let’s get back to our subject!”

Heather’s words were heard and Stiles began to write down his favorite superheroes. Then he felt ashamed. Superheroes were not serious. Well, they were for him, but for the others? Not that much. But he hadn’t any other fictional people to identify with.

“Let’s see our choices!” claimed Danny. “Lydia?”

The girl took a very serious expression which was quite softened by her Hello Kitty sweater and the little cherries on her hair clips.

“I’d like to go for the princess theme, but we, the girls, will be the one on the horses with weapons, and you, the boys, will be the helpless creatures. And I want all of you to wear rose and violet.”

“That’s interesting but… I don’t really like rose.” Danny turned to Heather: “And you?”

“I like horses so I thought about dressing up as riders, each one from a particular era. You could be a native, Danny.”

“That would be racist,” added Lydia.

“You think? Or he could be a cowboy, and then I’ll be a sport rider, and you a knight, and Stiles a circus’ artist.”

“Why do I end up being the clown?”

“Riders who work in circus are fantastic, Stiles. You should watch one of their shows. I’ll lend you a video.”

“Ok…”

Stiles wasn’t sure about that. When Danny told him to speak, he just dismissed it and let his new friend (?) speak first.

“I’m thinking about fairy creatures!”

That was unexpected. Danny was a joke in formation. Stiles couldn’t picture him reading a fantasy book while he was working out. He really couldn’t.

“What do you mean?”

“Lydia could be an elf, Heather a shapeshifter, I’ll be an ant and you’re the fairy.”

“The clown, and now the fairy? But why?”

“Because you’re strange and clumsy.”

Lydia’s conclusion was heartbreaking.

“But I just want to be Batman!”

“Oh please…”

“No, no, no, listen to me!”

Stiles got up and, forgetting his shyness, shook his arms in excitement: “Lydia, you’ll be Black Widow; you don’t know who she is but believe me, you’re just the kind of intelligent an independent lady that is Black Widow. Heather would probably be Wonder Woman who is just the best ever. Danny I don’t know between Hulk or Superman. And I’ll be Batman.”

“More a Robin to me.”

He couldn’t tell Lydia to shut up because no one could tell her to shut up. Still, he really wanted her to stop dismissing all his speech. Then, she was Black Widow: he had seen it coming. Heather seemed pensive while Danny frowned:

“I like the cowboy idea in fact. Not the different period stuff, just the cowboys.”

“That’s not very supernatural.”

“We could be zombie cowboys!”

“Stiles…”

“In fact, we are going to be ghost cowboys.”

Everyone looked surprised at Danny. The boy hid his blush behind a smirk.

“I’ve got a great interest in cowboys,” he said, looking at them expectantly. “Have you not seen the movie?”

“Which movie?”

“It’s not a kids’ movie, Danny. Why have you seen it?”

“It looked interesting enough.”

“Which movie?”

Danny motioned them to lean over the little table they were sitting at: “Brokeback Mountain.”

“That’s the… homosexual stuff,” said or asked Stiles in an ushered voice. “How… How could you…”

“My cousin is working at the movie theatre. He let me watch movies for free. I didn’t tell him I’ve watched this one though. Do you want to watch it? It’s still in the program this week. We could go on Saturday.”

“We’re going to need someone to watch us. No way will any of our parents allow us to go to the movie alone,” said Heather. “You know, two girls and two boys all on their own, on Saturday night, at our age?”

“I can’t ask my sisters. They’re way too loud and it won’t be a secret anymore.”

“I can’t tell anyone at home or they’ll double my therapy appointments.”

“I may have a solution.”

 

In fact, Stiles had no solution, he just had a very bad idea. Danny seemed to know which one when he waited him at the entrance of the swimming pool the next Saturday. Stiles walked to Derek, who had begun to teach him some diving after their training, before going out with his own friends.

“Derek, could you be our chaperone for movies tonight?”

“Why? You’re on a date?”

Stiles shrugged: “Not really? See, we have a project at school and we wanted to go see this movie. But we need to have a compliant watcher that won’t stop us from changing the movie at the last moment…”

“You want to go watch a porn?”

Stiles reddened so fast he felt his skin burn: “No! We want to go watch Brokeback Mountain!”

“Oh. Ok.”

Stiles was ecstatic. And so excited to watch a forbidden movie that he didn’t feel his heart clutch when Derek arrived at the movie with his girlfriend Paige. He didn’t feel it at all.

 


	7. This is a panic attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles doesn't react that god to the movie night, and Laura Hale has a very strange nose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/

They left the theatre before the end of the credits. Lydia engaged almost immediately in conversation with Danny and Heather while Stiles followed them silently. He hadn’t been expecting that sort of movie. His stomach felt weird and he couldn’t get some of the scenes out of his head. The death, the violent aggression towards the hero made him sick while the love story had given him butterflies in his chest.

They all waited inside the building for Derek and Paige, who had gone to another movie. They emerged from the crowd flushed and smiling. Paige left immediately as Derek led them to the car park.

“I asked Laura to take us home. She should be here.”

“My sister is here,” said Lydia. “I’ll go home with her and Danny’s coming with us.”

“Ok. Not a word about Paige and I won’t tell about your movie.

“Deal.”

Stiles didn’t see them leaving. He only heard Heather telling Derek where she was living. They reached a family car where a young woman was waiting.

“Hey Derek, how was the baby-sitting?”

“Cool. We need to take them home. This is Heather and Stiles.”

The woman waved them warmly and put a hand on Stiles’ shoulder, making him jump in surprise. She frowned a little but then gave him a warm smile.

“So, you’re the famous Stilinski! How was the movie?”

“Hm… Alright, I guess,” Stiles managed to say.

The woman, Laura, Derek’s big sister, made them sit in the car. She made a strange movement with her nose as soon as they were all inside and gave Derek a hard look:

“We’ll talk as soon as we’re at home.”

“No we won’t.”

“We will, Derek. With mum. You know the rules.”

“Laura…”

She dismissed his concern and spoke loudly to the kids on the backseat. 

“So, you’re in my father’s class, is that it?”

Heather engaged in the conversation but Stiles remained silent. He crossed Derek’s eyes in the rear-view mirror and quickly turned his head towards the window. The streets were black and shining; the rain was falling lightly on the pavement, giving a sense of unreality to the outside.

“You’re silent, Stiles. Are you ok?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good. I’m just tired.”

“We’re almost at your home. I’ll drop Heather off first and then you. Ok?”

“Hmhm…”

Laura didn’t push.

“We’re really going to talk Derek, I swear…”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Shut up.”

 

Stiles said goodbye to the Hales and ran to his front step. The light was on in the living-room and he wondered if he would find his father drunk again. That would be the pick of his evening.

But John was actually reading on the couch. He had moved a pillow and a blanket near him, but there was no sign of alcohol near him, just a cup of tea.

Stiles should have been rejoiced by this scene, but all he could see was the photo frame of his mother put just on the coffee table. This photo used to be on his father’s bedside. Not here.

And then all he felt during the movie came back in a sudden rush. Images of murder and violence added to his so deep and muted despair, the sadness he managed to keep for himself for months.

He couldn’t breathe.

His eyes were seeing black spots and his chest felt so tiny he thought he was going to explode. His hands, his hands were so tense he thought his muscles and bones were going to reap his skin off.

“Stiles?”

He sensed his father coming near him, but he couldn’t move. Tears were running down his face and he tried to breathe. Really, he tried!

“Stiles? What… Stiles, listen to me please, kiddo.”

Big and warm hands took his shoulders. His skin felt less tense and less burning.

“Breathe. Can you hear my voice, Stiles? Just breathe, son. Deep and slow. Like you learn at the swimming pool, remember? You told me last week. When you make exercises for breathing, by your mouth: deep and slow and forceful. Now, can you show me how you do it? Do it for me, kid. Please.”

One hand came on his neck, caressing, reassuring. Stiles managed one deep breathe. Then another. He was feeling so tired his legs gave up. Immediately his father came to him and took him in his arms. As if he was still a five years old, John carried him on the first floor, right to the bathroom. He took his time to wash his son’s face. Stiles was still out, not knowing really were he was.

He found himself in his bed, in fresh washed pj, his father caressing in head.

“You alright?”

“I don’t know dad. What was that?”

“A panic attack. It’s your first one but it’s normal.”

Stiles fixed his dad, feeling they were having a conversation they should have had months before.

“Why?”

“Because you’re sad and alone, kiddo. Your brain and your heart both tell you you’re not in your right place in this world, because something is missing. So they make you break. They try to tell you that you have to fight this situation, but you can’t. You can’t have your mom back.”

“But… I wasn’t thinking about mum tonight.”

John smiled sadly.

“I didn’t drink right after Claudia’s death. I had to be strong. For you. And then I came back to work and I was just buying coffee for the deputies and I… I think I realized that life was so unfair, so cruel that I hadn’t the strength to deal with it. I went to a bar and drank for two hours before Marty found me. I wasn’t thinking about Claudia, I was just… fixing my life and feeling lost.”

“So, will I have other attacks like this?”

John sighed.

“I don’t know, Stiles. Perhaps. We’ll talk about it to your doctor, ok? Do you want chocolate? Warm milk? And then you’ll sleep. Tomorrow we’ll talk about what happened at the theatre, ok?”

“Ok Dad.”

Before John left his bedroom, Stiles added: “Thank you.”

 

Stiles slept well this night.

Dad made pancakes for breakfast and it was like life was good again. As good as it could be.

“So, what happened last night Stiles?”

“Promise you won’t be angry?”

“I won’t. If I can. I’m the sheriff: if you were being a little delinquent, I’ll have to handcuff you, right?”

Stiles smiled. He liked the joke his father made about his cop’s job. That was cool. Having the sheriff as his father was cool.

“So, I’m listening.”

“Well, we didn’t watch the movie I told you about.”

“What did you see? Horror movie?”

“You’re not angry?”

“Every kid will watch something he’s not supposed to. I’ve seen Halloween at your age; I had nightmares for weeks after that. So, what movie it was?”

“Brokeback mountain.”

“Not a horror movie.”

“No.”

Stiles hesitated. He played a little with his pancakes.

“Are you angry because it’s a movie with gays?”

The sheriff took a sip of his coffee before answering.

“No Stiles. I’ll get… irate if it has porn scenes in it though.”

Stiles flushed: “They kissed. And they may have been some… nudity? But not porn.”

“How did you feel about it?”

“Nervous. I guess.”

“It’s a pretty normal reaction at your age. But that’s a conversation for another time. What really triggered you in the movie?”

“Someone killed the guy because he was gay. It was violent and horrible. It made me sick. But I thought… The others didn’t seem bothered about it so I thought I was just being too childish.”

“We’re not all sensitive towards the same things. It’s normal. You’re not more of a child than your friends, kiddo. Some adults can’t watch a horror movie, and some teenagers don’t give a damn about it. It depends on the person.” Stiles thought deeply about it while his father washed the dishes. Then they decided to do some housework while listening, quite loudly, to some Greenday album (his dad was cool, ok?) and got out at two in the afternoon to go to the coffee shop to grab sandwiches and milk shakes.

“I’m still going to talk to your teacher about his son, Stiles. He shouldn’t have let you go to this movie like that.”

“It’s not his fault, dad. We decided it.”

“He’s older than you.”

“I don’t want to have problems with him dad. He’s my friend.”

“Stiles. I’m being your father here. You understand?”

“But…”

“I’ve been more afraid yesterday than I have been for months, Stiles. I want to talk to your teacher and I’ll do it. And you’re grounded.”


	8. The lonely Batman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles will be Batman and ends up in the woods. There are creepy people in there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/

The sheriff didn’t only talk with Mr. Hale on Monday, giving up his lunch break to go to his son’s school, he also spoke to the other parents. Stiles knew something was wrong on Tuesday afternoon, as he reached the gym to get going with the project. Danny was not here and Lydia was clearly pissed.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Like you don’t know, moron. Danny’s been punished! He’s grounded and his parents are making a hell in the director’s office. And it’s all your fault!”

“Now, Miss Martin, don’t be like that.”

Lydia shut up at Mr. Hale’s order. The teacher seemed tired but he gave a smile to Stiles. He led him to a corner, giving them some privacy.

“I’m sorry about the mess, Mr. Hale. It was not Derek’s fault.”

“Now Stiles. We’re not here to speak about my son. He has his faults but you’ve got nothing to do with them. What I want to talk about is you. Are you alright?”

Stiles shrugged. He felt tired, and a little light headed.

“I…”

“Yes?

“I’d like to have a good Halloween. But Lydia and Danny, they won’t speak with me again. I shouldn’t…”

“You were hurt Stiles. It’s not their fault but Danny had a bad idea and he needed to be punished for it. You’ve been punished too, haven’t you?”

“Yeah but not really? I can’t go out of the house without my dad but I didn’t go out so much before. That doesn’t change anything for me. I feel guilty.”

They were sitting at a table, apart from the rest of the students. Heather had joined another group and Lydia was still fuming and giving him black glares.

“Stiles, you’ve got guilt since your mother died, haven’t you? It’s normal. Your dad may be in the same situation. It’s normal too. You have to work together. But don’t add other stuff in your shoulders. You made a fault, you pay for it. That’s the end. If Lydia can’t understand that, it’s her problem, not yours. Now, we’re here for Halloween right? What do you want to do?”

Stiles finished his afternoon class cutting black papers to make a Batman mask. It was cheap, but then one girl came to him and asked if he could help her for her Catwoman one. She was a petite blonde, skinnier than him and Stiles remembered she was always sick and had to have a private tutor during holydays.

“I’m Erica, by the way. The girls in my group want to make princesses, but Catwoman is better.”

“I agree.”

The day went a little better after that.

 

And it was going to get even better, stiles was sure of that when the class ended. Everyone, including Mr. Hale, rushed outside. Stiles followed them, impatient to see his dad waiting for him. He had taken a few days off to take care of him and doing some work at home. Stiles was waiting for this, a real afternoon with his father.

He didn’t see him first but there was a bunch of cars and people in front of the school. Deciding to wait, Stiles sat on a bench, sighing, clinging on the hope of a good time. But this hope let place to anger when the car park emptied.

“That’s good way to improve, dad,” he said to no one. He got up and began walking home. But then, did he really want to see his dad drunk again and feeling all sorry and excusing himself and promising, promising, always promising? Hell no. Without really thinking, Stiles turned his path toward the preserve. He could walk for a while. Maybe he would see a grey fox. That would be so cool.

The sky darkened quickly and it would rain sooner or later though Stiles didn’t really care. He walked his path through the forest, enjoying the calm and the perfect atmosphere. Maybe he could go to the fast food before going home. He still had money and could grab fries and a bacon burger for his dad. Tears came up to his eyes almost immediately. No, he wouldn’t! Dad had let him down again. The other kids were laughing at him because he was lonely, a whiner and had a pathetic dad.

Angered, Stiles grabbed a wood stick and hit every tree he could reach.

“What are you doing here?”

The boy jumped, letting his stick fall. A man and a woman were watching him. She had a gun on her belt, quickly hidden by her jacket. She was smiling at him but there was coldness in her eyes. Creepy. The man looked better but still was nervous.

“Just walking.”

“You shouldn’t walk alone in these woods. It’s dangerous.”

“I just wanted to see foxes…”

“Foxes?” the woman said. “You could fall over wolves in there.” Even her voice was creepy.

“Kate, shut up.”

He looked back at him: “Go home kid. It’s going to rain. Do you want me to drive you home?”

“No, it’s cool. Thank you for the warning, I guess.”

Stiles walked back, wondering what they were doing here. Hunters? They didn’t look like hunters. Cops? He should ask his dad but the man wouldn’t be able to answer him.

“Who are you, kid?”

“There’s a lot of people in this forest,” Stiles told back.

A man was standing in front of him, with piercing blue eyes. He smiled.

“This is private property.”

“I didn’t know.”

“I see that. Where are you living?”

Stiles shrugged. He didn’t want to go home.

“Who are you? Are you with the other two with the gun?”

“Who?”

Stiles described the strange couple. The man tensed lightly before he told the kid his name: “I’m Peter Hale. We’re far from the city here. I’ll lead you ti our house so you’ll call your parents.”

“I can’t follow strangers. What is your hobby?”

Peter looked at him with surprise: “Photos.”

“Ok. So I guess you’re really Peter Hale. Derek told me about you. Do you have photos of grey foxes? He said you may but he wasn’t sure. He said looking at your photos is boring but I don’t think he’s right. I mean, he thinks basket-ball is cool but _that_ is boring. May be I think that because I can’t play with a ball like, at all, but then… It’s raining.”

“Yeah I noticed. You always talk that much? You’re the famous Stiles, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“To what question?”

“Both, I guess.”

“The house is there. You can run?”

 

They walked faster as the rain started to fall harder. Soon they emerged in a garden. Stiled had no time to watch it closely, following Peter Hale toward a playground and an opened garage. A woman and a small child were waiting for them.

“I heard there were two of you. Is that your natural child?” the woman asked.

She was tiny with a bunch of bright red hair. Peter kissed her lightly on the lips.

“Nope. It’s the sheriff’s son, Stiles. He was wandering in the preserve.”

“Come on. Let’s get inside so you can both dry and change.”

She turned to the child who was eyeing Stiles with deep curiosity.

“Caroline, honey, go tell Franck we have a guest.”

She then handed Stiles a tiny but dry towel.

“Hi hon. I’m Maria, Peter’s wife. Can you follow me? I’ll show you the bathroom. Peter will get you dry clothes. You’re taller than Cora but we may have some of Derek’s old clothes.”

The Hale’s house was huge. The garage led to a gym (invaded by toys and two rocking horses) which led to a cellar and a kitchen. Stiles walked silently behind Maria, feeling suddenly cold. All his clothes were wet and he wondered if his books were still dry in his backpack. He couldn’t see though, as Maria rushed him in a small bathroom.

“Take a shower, Stiles. You have towels and I’ll give you clothes as soon as I can.”

 

Getting naked and taking a shower in a strangers’ house wasn’t something Stiles would admit to do willingly. But he was cold and his clothes clang on his skin. He put down his trousers, socks and shirts, relieved to see that his underwear wasn’t as wet as the rest.

Hot water was a blissful think and he quickly showered and got out to see a pair of sport pants, a shirt and a sweat neatly folded on near the sink. The shirt had the logo of Beacon Junior High School Sport Club and the sweat had an enormous wolf on the front. It was kind of cool. There also were a pair of wool socks and the Hales were definitely cool.

Stiles exited the bathroom and hesitated before going right, where he heard sounds coming. There was a huge living-room, with a couch meant to welcome at least ten people. A fire was lit in the fireplace and two kids (Caroline and a boy who looked just like her, so maybe her twin brother) were playing on the carpet. Maria came out of the nearby kitchen with a tray of warm tea and cookies.

“Here you go. Sit down and warm yourself. Franck will be here soon. He’s calling your father.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: http://fourrureetcapuche.tumblr.com/
> 
> Warning: I didn't like at all the portrayal of Peter in the flash back episode. His youth just fucked my headcanon chronology. And I liked the idea of an ordinary man going crazy after seeing his family dying in front of him. So my Peter is a pretty normal guy (well, as normal as Peter can be)


	9. Your father is garbage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles meets the Hales. Reader meets deputy McCall. Author is not sorry...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/

“Franck will be here soon. He’s calling your father.”

Stiles felt his breathe stop, like he had three days before. It was horrible and he still didn’t know how to react.

He felt a hand on his neck, pushing firmly so he has to put his head down towards his knees. Then another hand landed on his forehead, warm and dry. The pain disappeared, like a fog of bad feelings that just get away.  Still, he had to take a few deep breaths, trying to make his lungs work again.

“Calm down, Stiles. It´s alright. You will be alright.”

He opened his eyes and saw Mr. Hale in front of him. The hand on his neck stayed there, a light caress which reassured Stiles. He turned his head. Derek was standing beside him, his hand reaching to his skin. He didn’t seem to care about the contact, and Stiles wasn’t about to tell him to quit it. It was really comforting.

“’M sorry, Mr. Hale,” he said to break the silence.

“You don’t have to excuse yourself, Stiles. Come sit down and you can eat something.”

Stiles obeyed, missing Derek’s touch, as the teenager rushed the twins to go play somewhere else. Peter passed as he entered in the living-room, a little frame in his hand. If he saw Stiles’ state, he didn’t make any remark of it. Mr. Hale was pouring some hot chocolate in a cup.

“Here Stiles. This is for you!”

Peter handed him the frame, a simple wooden one, which held the photo of a little grey fox. Stiles stared at it in surprise.

“None of the kids here appreciate my art, and when you told me about your fox’s obsession, I remembered taking this one last year. This cub was hidden in a bush but I still saw it. It’s fuzzy, don’t you think?”

“It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

The present touched Stiles deeply and he fought back his tears.

“If you’re up to it, I could take you with me one morning,” added Peter.

He pointed to Derek who just returned to the room: “This one just can’t wake up before 7.”

“You go out at 5! It’s not human!” Derek protested.

“Good use of words, my dear nephew.”

“Peter, we need to talk to Stiles,” said Mr. Hale abruptly.

“Ok, Franck. Stiles, don’t forget my offer.”

Then they were just the three of them. Franck sat beside Stiles, his hands on his knees.

“Do you want Derek to leave?”

“No. He’s good.”

Stiles didn’t know why Derek would be there or why Mr. Hale had asked him but he didn’t want the other boy to leave. In fact, he wanted to cuddle in his arms so hard it kind of frightened him. But Derek just sat on the carpet, next to his feet, and stayed silent.

“Did you panic because I called your father?”

Stiles sighed: “Yes.”

“And were you alone in the reserve because of your father?”

“… Yeah.”

“Why?”

“He forgot to pick me at school and… I just…”

He sniffled and felt immediately Derek’s fingers on his right leg. A warm feeling of peace and serenity reached him.

“I had your father on the phone. He’s sorry but he’ll explain you why he wasn’t here. Now, I know you’re angry and tired, but you need to listen to him. Even if you can’t forgive him yet. Would you do that?”

“I can try.”

“You’re a good boy Stiles. And your father seems a good man. I lost my brother when I was your age. We were very close and all of us, me, my sister and my parents, we took it very hard. We grew farther and farther from each other. I missed their love and affection but the sadness made me so stubborn I couldn’t reach them. Then, one day, we sat down for dinner, and we could speak with each other again. You need time Stiles, and your father does too. But that doesn’t mean you or him should stay alone. If you need help, ask for it.”

 Stiles looked at his hands, thinking about what his teacher just told him. Was he really ready to listen to his dad? To be more mature than him? To help him?

"I’m not sure I can help my dad."

"That´s not what you should do. You are just a kid. But you can support him and let him support you the best he can."

"I’ll need time..."

Mr. Hale smiled sweetly.

"Of course. Here, stay with Derek. Someone is going to pick you in one hour. Why don t you watch a movie together?"

He left them in the living-room.

Derek seemed uneasy and tried to avoid his gaze. It was good for Stiles: he didn’t know what to say to the other boy anyway, except...

"I'm so..."

"I have to apolo..."

Ok, that was not weird at all. Stiles blushed and kept his eyes on his knees. He heard Derek get up and raised his head. The older boy was frowning and biting his lip.

"I was the older one, I should have paid more attention to you and your friends."

"You’re punished because of me."

Derek shrugged: "I’ll survived. Do you want to play a game?"

 

Then ended playing Super Mario on Derek’s Super Nes. Stiles had just a GameBoy at home and it was the first time he could play “on the TV!” The game was fun and the boy soon let his sadness go away. Derek’s was the same as usual: calm, quiet even, with a deep concentration on his face.

After twenty minutes though, Stiles wanted to talk again.

“So,” he began. “Do your parents know about… you know… your friend?”

Derek’s eyes fell on him and Stiles felt uneasy.

“Sorry. Didn’t want to bore you.”

“They think we broke up,” murmured Derek. He leant over Stiles, still playing. “But we couldn’t. So… It’s more or less a secret.”

“And for Saturday?”

“They think I was with you. If they knew… I would never hear the end of it.”

“Am sorry. You’re still punished because of me.”

Derek shrugged.

“It’s not that bad. I have to look out for you now, my mum said.”

Stiles frowned, not sure how to get this information. He wanted to ask Derek but they were interrupted by the noise of the doorbell. The boy heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and a young woman passed before the door to answer. She came back a moment later:

“Stiles. It’s for you. Dad will give your clothes back tomorrow at school.”

She handed him his backpack and he trotted behind her, Derek on his back. She looked so much like him that he had no problem figuring she was Laura, his older sister. She looked sure of herself, and was wearing a red jacket with the name of her university on it.

But Stiles’ attention returned to the man at the door. He may have thought it would be his dad, but he had no such luck. Deputy McCall was giving Laura Hale a false smile that gave Stiles the creeps.

“I’m here for Genim,” he said. “I talked to your father, he’s going to sleep at our house tonight. Thanks for taking care of him.”

McCall’s words were short and didn’t ask for any opposition. Laura frowned but let him take care of Stiles, seemingly trusting him. Stiles was less than happy. He didn’t like Scott’s father that much, and the ten minutes’ car drive from here to his house were not going to be happy.

The boy sensed Derek’s trying to walk past the front door but then Laura ushered him back inside. He didn’t look back and followed silently to the cruiser.

“On the back, kid,” McCall said when he tried to sit on the front sit.

The first minutes of the drive were silent, but Stiles knew that the prick would soon open his mouth. And he did as soon as they were out of the preserve.

“So, you know why your dad’s at home, kid?”

Stiles sighed, his eyes on his knees. The calm he began to felt with the Hale’s was disappearing.

“He took some days off to be with me and tidy the house.”

McCall’s laugh hurt him more than he showed.

“Right. We forced him to take a break. Officer Davies took his job and we don’t want to see him again if he can’t be clean. Understand that? You dad is going to be fired, and that will be a benediction to Beacon Hills. You should know the truth, kid. Your dad is not a good sheriff. He’s a bad one. And you know what?”

Stiles didn’t want to know but he couldn’t not hear McCall’s speech.

“It’s my wife that is at your home to pick up the pieces. We shouldn’t even be involved in this stuff. You should be living with your grand-mother and he should be in a fucking health center. So you’re sleeping at our house tonight, but it’ll be the only time. We have a life, a happy life, and the Stilinskis are not part of it. Understand, boy?”

They drove to the McCall’s house’s street. Stiles tried not to cry.

When the man opened the door to let him out, he added: “And don’t think I’ll let Scott spend Halloween with you. He has other friends, better friends. I’m doing you a favor here. Now go to his room, have some child time with him, but don’t bother whining. It’s all your dad’s fault.”

Too ashamed, Stiles obeyed except for one thing: he joined Scott in his bed that night and let his best friend hug him for a long time as he, finally, let himself cry to sleep.

 


	10. Don’t grow up too fast, son.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stilinskis' feels. That's all to be said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/

“They fight a lot,” said Scott while pouring cereal into two bowls.

It was seven in the morning. Melissa had been up at six to begin her shift and her husband won’t be home before nine. So the two boys were alone in the McCall’s house. Stiles woke up with a headache, but Scott wasn’t really any better. They hadn’t talked for weeks and never about “adults’ stuff”. Then Stiles told his best friend about his panic attack, and then his father. Scott dropped the bomb just as they were eating breakfast.

“Mom sleeps in my room sometimes. And dad makes a lot of night shifts. Tings aren’t going very well.”

Scott was playing with his cereas instead of eating. He looked tired.

“Why do they fight?” Stiles asked. “They seemed good…”

“Dad wants to leave Beacon Hills, and he was travelling three months ago and when he came back… I don’t know, dude. Mum said he should have been at your… Your mom’s funeral and he didn’t even excuse himself but… I think there’s more than that.”

Stiles couldn’t imagine what it could be. Scott’s dad was a prick but still… He was Scott’s dad.

“He told me we couldn’t do Halloween together,” he said as they walked down the street to Stiles’ bus stop.

“Really? That’s a lie!”

“He said you had new friends?”

“Nah, there’re some cool dudes, but none like you. And I’ve made my Robin costume! We have to do this together. I don’t need to tell him though.”

Stiles’ smile widened and he jumped into his school bus with a lighter heart.

Halloween was on Thursday and it would be good. It had to be.

 

Tuesday afternoon was the last time in school where they have the Halloween special class. Stiles stood with Erica, as they cut his cape and made her belt. Behind her tired lines and shy smiles, Erica had a very strange sense of humor that took Stiles by surprise. He laughed some times and found himself with yellow paint on his nose.

“Stop it! I don’t want to be the clown again!”

“But you’re a cute clown, Stiles.”

Stiles frowned, which made Erica laughed even louder.

“Hey, you want to go with us? My friend Scott is Robin, so it would be great.”

Erica’s face lighted up like he just offered her the moon or something.

“Really? My mum wanted me to have a night-over with my cousin. She didn’t want me to go outside. Will we have a chaperon? It needs to be a nurse.”

“A nurse? Why?”

Erica’s shoulders went down:

“’Cause of my sickness. And ‘cause of my parents. If we have a nurse as chaperon, they might agree to let me go.”

“I’ll ask Scott’s mum. She’s a nurse. Want to go with me after school? I… I need to go to Scott after school before going home.”

“My mum comes to pick me up but we’ll ask her.”

 

Things went smoothly. Mrs. Reyes eyed Stiles suspiciously, but after a coffee and two cookies with Melissa McCall, she agreed to let Erica go with the boys on Halloween night. The three kids played a card game while waiting, Erica being forbidden to watch video games. When the Reyes left the house, it was time for Stiles to go home and face his father. Melissa forced Scott to stay to do his homework and gave Stiles a ride. It was a five minutes drive, just enough time for her to explain some things. With a better heart than her husband.

“So, Stiles, you know what your father’s situation is, right?”

Stiles shrugged, not really wanting to talk about that. But Melissa didn’t let him escape, and he knew he had to answer.

“Yeah. I think… I think he’s sick and I’m afraid.”

“First thing first, Stiles. He’s not sick like your mother. He’s not going to let you down. I know him, you know him, and he’s a very strong guy. So, the sickness he has is serious, but it’s not deadly.”

Melissa was always direct. That what made her a good nurse, his mom had always said. And though he found her frightening, her words actually reassured him.

“But he’s still sick?”

“He’s very sad, and he’s an alcoholic. I’m sorry for what you had to suffer yesterday, and other days I assumed. But if it hadn’t happen, if I hadn’t had this phone call from Mr. Hale, I wouldn’t have gone to your house and seen your father as he was. I tried to put some reason in his head but it will be a long run. Do you think you’ll manage?”

“He’s my dad.”

She smiled at him as the car stopped in front of his house. The lights were on.

“I visited him after my shift this afternoon. So you’ll have something healthy to eat this evening, and I did some grocery shopping. From now on, you’ll have to do these, cooking and shopping, the both of you. Talk with each other, even about the smallest things. Ok?”

Stiles nodded, unsure. He was just a kid after all.

 

He walked silently into his home, poking his head through the living room door. His father was not there and it was obvious someone had cleaned up: the blanket on the couch was carefully folded on a chair near the tv, there was no bottle or plate lying on the table and the air was fresh. He recognized the sweet scent his mother used to perfume the beds after cleaning.

"Dad?"

There were some sounds coming from the door behind the stairs. There was a little cellar there and another door to the garage. Stiles put his backpack down and walked in the corridor. His father was fixing a shelf on the wall. Three cases, neatly closed, were lying on the floor.

"What are you doing?"

"Hello son."

His voice was hollow and quiet, like he had to force himself to talk.

"I’m sorry for not going home yesterday."

"And I am sorry for letting you down again. And to answer you, I'm putting some old stuff from mum here. I also have packed your old toys since..."

 _Since you’ll never have a little brother or sister_ was the mute sentence hanging between them.

"So the craft room is empty?"

"Come with me, Genim."

He led him to the kitchen where a pizza was waiting to be eaten. They sat and Stiles could even drink a coke, even if it was a school night.

"I can’t sleep in our bedroom anymore," told the sheriff. He observed his son with unease, waiting for the question his son would ask. But Stiles extended his hand and touched his father’s.

"I can’t read any of the books she read to me. And I hate the perfume of the bleach."

"You are, really, a fantastic son."

"So you’re making another room for yourself?"

"Yes. That´s why... When I entered in her bedroom yesterday, I found one of... One of her bra’s, under the cushion. I really don’t know how it got here but..."

"You cried?"

The sheriff was silent for two minutes, his hand caressing his son’s head.

"Yeah I cried. And I drank."

Stiles put the rest of his pizza on a plate and got up to wash his hands. He thought deeply.

"I think," he began. "I think I should have an appointment with the doctor again. And maybe you should go with me? I don’t want you to deal with it alone, dad."

Stiles turned to his dad, finding him kneeling before him.

"Dad?"

He found himself in a tight hug.

"Genim," chocked his father. "You are the best son a father could dream of. You’re strong, intelligent and generous. Never let anyone tell you something different. I’m so proud of you. Your mum would be proud of you."

Stiles gave the hug back.

"Since you have holidays, may be you could help me with my homework?"

 


	11. The dynamic trio in the children’s hospital.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Halloween! Anything could happen, even when Batman set a foot in a nursery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/
> 
> Trigger warning: someone here had a seirzure. We don't see it and when we meet the character, she's alright but just tired. There's also newborn babies.
> 
> Trigger warning for fun: it's a chapter full of fluff. And babies.

"She had a seizure."

"What´s that?"

Stiles waited as Mr. Hale searched an explanation. Erica had been sick the day before and now it was Halloween and she was missing.

"Is that dangerous?"

"It could be. But she's in good hands, don’t worry anout her."

Stiles still made a face. Heather was still not really speaking to him and Danny and Lydia put him in the "bad acquaintances" group. He may have been the only member of said group. All in all he had waited for playing and waiting with Erica for the Halloween night.

"What are you doing tonight?" Mr. Hale asked.

Stiles explained his previous plans. The teacher smiled to him before warning:

"We already passed the information among schools, but do not go to the preserve tonight, ok? Peter saw a mountain lion two days ago and it could be dangerous."

"We won t be able to ask for candies at your house?"

"I’ll give you chocolate tomorrow," smiled Mr. Hale.

Stiles returned to his sandwich. He made it with dad during the evening. A little bit of peace for both of them.

"Do you think Erica s parents would agree to let me and Scott go visit her?"

"Do you want to ask them?"

“I’d like to. I don’t know if Scott’s mum will agree but we can ask her too.”

Mr. Hale sat up to get his phone from his desk. They were eating in the classroom. Four other kids were having their meal at the back of the room too. It was raining outside. It would stop in the afternoon but, for the moment, no one wanted to eat outside.

While the teacher was calling Mrs. Reyes, some of the kids approached Stiles.

“You know you’re his pet, right?”

Stiles didn’t answer. He didn’t want to fight back. But the kid continued:

“Just because you’re weak and a freak doesn’t mean you’re better than us and…”

“Shut up, Ryan.”

Danny walked in the classroom and said, Ryan shrugged and went back to his place where his friends were laughing. The boy didn’t give them a damn and sat beside Stiles.

“I’m sorry,” he said first.

“Why? I’m the one who brings trouble.”

“It’s not that,” replied Danny. “My sister can’t watch any movie with dwarves in it because it scares her so I think being afraid about a murder isn’t something you’re asking for.”

“I really didn’t mean to react like that.”

“I know.”

Stiles took a lunch box from his backpack and took one apple and two cookies. He gave one to Danny. The cookies were his father’s present after they went to the grocery store the day before. Stiles had cookies and his father had black chocolates (“your mother was allergic to them, so you, my son, could have any chocolate you wanted, but I, as her husband, was asked to not eat any in front of her. She was a cruel woman.” There had been a ghost of a smile on his father’s face)

“I was angry because my grandfather learnt about the movie and he insisted that I saw the doctor again. Like he wanted to treat me.”

“Treat you?”

Danny blushed a little.

“Yeah, you know. Because I prefer boys over girls. I thought it was natural, my parents are very liberal and I told them last year that I wanted to kiss The Rock on the cheek because he was so cool and beautiful and my grandfather just blew a fuse. I think my parents are getting tired of him but he ran the office they’re working at so it’s hard.”

“I wouldn’t want to be you, really.”

“I asked my teachers to speak to my parents and then I realized it wasn’t your fault but my grandfather’s, who’s just a fucker. My mom’s words.”

Stiles thought about it a little.

“You really like boys better than girls?”

“Yeah. You?”

“I don’t know. I like everyone.”

 

The afternoon’s class ended sooner than usual and Stiles was happy to find Melissa’s car outside, waiting for him. They went to Stiles’ home to prepare themselves and for a quick snack. The sheriff had moved out their Halloween decorations and the boys helped him to decorate the outside porch a bit. There was no pumpkins, no lights but still. Stiles felt happier as he looked at his father learning how to make a pumpkin pie under Melissa’s order.

“I’m going to the station after this,” he told them. “Mary has always been a lover of this pie and I owe her this.”

“You’re trying to poison her, aren’t you?” Stiles asked, eyeing the cake suspiciously.

“No Stiles. And we made three of them. One for the nurses and one for you three. Mrs. Reyes told us Erica was able to eat a little and she was craving pumpkin.”

“When are we going?”

Melissa looked at her watch.

“It’s five, I’m taking the shift at seven, so we’ll go in half an hour. I’ll ask Jimmy to take you home after. Scott will sleep here.”

Stiles’ smiles didn’t know the laws of gravity anymore.

 

Erica was in a room with three other beds, in the children quarter. The walls were blue and rose, and there was lots of drawings on them. Near the window, a boy was reading, a white bandage around his head. There was a little doll on another bed but her occupant was not there. The fourth bed was empty.

“Stiles! Scott! Thank you for coming!”

The little girl had her hair neatly held in a ponytail and she was wearing a black dress with black gloves. Her mask was on her knees. Scott ran to her, his green cape flying behind him.

“Catwoman! We have pie!”

Stiles put some plates and spoons on the bedside while Melissa served the pie on one of the nurses’ moving table. She also had orange juice and hot chocolate.

“The nurses are going to go through the children’s ward with sweets and chocolate. Do you three want to go with them? I think the kids would be overjoyed to be visited by three super heroes.”

“Yeah!”

“Yes I want too! My sister gave me her leather boots and I just want to wear them. I’ll be the prettiest Catwoman ever!”

Erica was delighted to leave her bed and Scott seemed used to this kind of activity.

"I want to be a doctor when I grow up," he said to Erica. "Except for the animals."

Stiles was a little stressed. He didn’t like hospitals that much. He had very bad memories of them, including the one where he had to call an ambulance and sit in the ER when his mother died. But Melissa knew better. She introduced them to Joan the fairy, Maria the witch and Jimmy the pirate. The three interns had six packages of sweets and each took a kid with them.

"You’ll begin with the long illness part of the hospital."

Stiles shivered. The majority of kids there had cancer. He couldn’t...

"Except Maria and Batman who are going to the nursery. Candies are for mothers and nurses. And for Mr. McCormack, who’s literally living beside his daughter’s incubator. All right?"

"Yes!"

Maria was a sweet nurse with a round face and a coat covered by unicorns.

"I work at the nursery," she said to Stiles as they took the corridor.

"Melissa told me you’re an only child? So it’ll be your first encounter with little monsters?"

A little shy, Stiles nodded. But the tour went well. The women were delighted, calling him a cutie and offering twice the candies he gave them. Mr. McCormack let him watch his very tiny daughter and gave him 10 bucks to buy himself "something nice for a nice kid."

They joined the other team almost one hour after and they visited the other kids, mainly being there for diverse injuries.

It was already near 9 when they finished, accompanying Erica back to her room. She kissed them both on the cheek and made them promise to visit her home soon.

But Jimmy was nowhere to see when they came down the hospital entrance. Maria saw them though and urged the boys to the nurses’ restroom.

"Ok so we have even more morons than usual and Jimmy is dealing with a broken arm and a car crash. We tried to call Mr. Stilinski but the station needed all officers available. They had an urgency in the preserve. So I’ll warm you a pizza and you’re staying here until someone is free to take you home. There is a bed in the backroom. Alright?"

Sleeping at the hospital, Stiles could manage that.


	12. I love a dead girl.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Halloween! Anything can happen, even the worst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/
> 
> Trigger warning: character death, though we don't see them. Breakdown from a character.
> 
> Trigge warning for fun? Stilinskis' feels!!!!!

Stiles couldn’t sleep. Scott was curled under the covers in the bed, snoring like nothing could wake him up. But Stiles was sitting next to him, feeling alone and lost. He really didn’t like hospitals. Sometimes a nurse would check on them and ask Stiles if he wanted anything. The boy didn’t want to annoy them so he just shook his head and tried to close his eyes.

It was midnight when he decided he had enough of that. He couldn’t stay in the little room anymore and needed fresh air. So he walked out the break room and wandered in the corridor. He found himself in a waiting space with the vending machine welcoming him. He could do with some chips. He had too much sugar and was hungry. He was searching in his pocket to see if he had any coin when someone arrived. Knowing he shouldn’t be there, Stiles hid in the toilet, leaving the door opened.

“Stay here kid. I’m going back as soon as I reach your parents.”

The officer (Stiles saw his uniform) left. He could walk out now and go back to Scott. He could just do that and the other person wouldn’t even notice him.

As he walked past the vending machine, Stiles turned his head and stop.

“Derek?”

The other boy didn’t seem to hear him. Stiles approached and lifted his hand, afraid to touch his friend.

“Derek?” he repeated.

This time the teenager raised his head. His face was a mess of tears and there was a strange light in his eyes. Like blue specks. Feeling the boy wouldn’t deny him, Stiles walked closer and put his hand on his arm.

“Is everything alright?”

“I…”

Derek began trembling, stronger and stronger, to the point where Stiles just hugged him tightly. He felt arms circling him, a wet head on his shoulders. Derek was indeed crying like the world was ending.

“I’m sorry Derek. You want to tell me?”

“I killed her… I killed her…”

Stiles heard the words but didn’t understand them. That was crazy. And who Derek would have killed? They stayed in each other arms for long few minutes, Stiles caressing Derek’s back lightly, like his mother used to do.

Someone arrived near them. Derek was calmer but didn’t let Stiles go. The boy looked at the new comer and saw a tall woman with black hair and distant eyes. She was intimidating but there was no mistake at who she was. Derek looked so much like her it was hurting. She eyed them with interest and then a very small smile appeared on her mouth.

Behind her arrived the sheriff.

“Stiles, what are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t sleep and then I found Derek and I couldn’t leave him alone.”

“Let him go, now. His mother’s here.”

The sound made Derek straighten up. He left Stiles’ embrace but wouldn’t let go of his hand. Stiles felt warmness in his longer and bigger palm. He couldn’t release him either.

“Mum?”

Mrs. Hale moved to sit down next to her son. Her hand found quickly his hair, caressing them with fondness. Her coldness had left her and Stiles just saw the mother she was, the sadness she was sharing with Derek.

“You need to let Stiles, go, hon. He has to go back to his home.”

“I… Sorry.”

Stiles felt suddenly alone. His father took him by the hand, mentioning him to follow.

“What happened?” he asked as soon as they were in the ER. The place was calmer than before. The night was ending.

“His girlfriend had an accident. She didn’t make it,” answered John. He knew his son wouldn’t let him in peace without a clear answer.

They went out to the sheriff’s car.

“We’re going home. I’ll call Melissa.”

“Ok.”

Stiles didn’t mind. With what happened, he didn’t feel like sleeping by Scott. He needed his dad.

“Paige… Paige is dead?”

The car moved slowly down the streets. Some kids were still out and the sheriff looked over them. Just in case.

“Yes son. We had an emergency in the forest. She was… attacked by a beast or something. We’ll know soon enough.”

“Derek was with her?”

The sheriff sighed.

“He was not far. It’s the police’s case now. Michael is doing it. We, we’re going to watch a movie together.”

“It’s one in the morning, dad.”

“Oh, my bad. No school tomorrow, and we are going to sleep in front of a movie. Hot chocolate?”

Stiles realized maybe his dad needed him as much as the other way around.

“I’d like to talk to Derek tomorrow. Can I?”

“We’ll call the Hales if you want. What do you think about shopping for Thanksgiving? Now that I know how to cook a pie?”

“You know if Melissa is with you, dad,” said Stiles, yawning.

“How little faith you have in me, son.”

 

When Stiles was in his pjs, his dad as well, a blanket on their knees and hot chocolates in their hands, the tension finally dropped. Stiles finished his drink quickly, laughing before the stupid werewolf scene that happened in the movie. He then, all naturally, climbed on his dad’s knees, like he was a little kid, and cuddled under his arm.

“I love you, dad.”

“I love you, son.”

The beast on the TV lost his clothes while transforming, and then had them back in one piece when it regained its human form.

“It’s going to be the first Thanksgiving without…” started John.

“Without mum cursing because the turkey is never like she wanted it to be.”

“Yes remember what she said?”

“I swear, boys, next year we’re having pasta and chicken for Thanksgiving. Everybody loves my pasta, we should make all stupid dinner with pasta.”

“I needed to repeat to her hundreds times that the turkey was just great. Even when it wasn’t.”

“Still, she was a master of pies.”

“She bought them, kiddo. Sorry to disappoint you.”

“Hm… She was a cheater.”

Stiles yawned again, feeling his father doing the same.

“Holiday till Thanksgiving, kiddo. I’ll call Mr. Hale tomorrow. We need time alone.”

Stiles’ eyes began shutting down.

“Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“I’d like to go see her. With a pie.”

Stiles felt asleep and didn’t hear his father’s answer. He dreamt of pie, of consoling Derek, of death and life, of Erica’s lovely bond hair, of love, and of his mother.

 


	13. We are the kings of the pumpkins’ pie!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Stilinskis' bring back Claudia's spirit. There are consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/
> 
> Trigger warning: panic attack. :(

“Hm, Hello? Can I speak to Derek please?

“Who are you?”

Stiles thought he recognized Talia Hale’s voice. That was intimidating. He gulped and wished he hadn’t called. Next to him, his father pointed his thumbs up, encouraging.

“It’s Stiles Stilinski? We met… yesterday night?”

“Oh, yes Stiles. The boy my son couldn’t let go. Why can I do for you?”

“I… I wanted to ask how Derek is doing. He’s my friend. I’d like to see him, or to speak to him?”

“I’m sorry, Stiles. Derek just got back from the station and we just managed to make him sleep. He’s going to rest until our thanksgiving’s dinner. My husband tells me you’re one of his pupils?”

“Yes, Madam.”

“You can visit us on Sunday afternoon if you’d like to. We’ll surely have some leftovers from the dinner. Ask your father to come with you. We’d like to thank him. He has been of very good help yesterday.”

“Ok, Madam. Can you give Derek a message, please?”

“Of course honey.”

“Could you tell him…?” Stiles hesitated: “Could you tell him that it will get better? It’s hard but still. It’s getting better. I don’t know if he’ll understand.”

There was a silence on the phone. Stiles felt his dad’s hand on his shoulder but he wondered if he had told something so stupid Mrs. Hale didn’t know what to say.

“Considering your story, Stiles, I’m deeply honored you’d say these kind of words to my son. But I agree with you. It’ll be better if you tell him yourself. I’ll tell Derek you called and are waiting for him to call back. Is that good for you?”

“Yes, Madam. Thank you.”

 

The kitchen was a mess. There was crushed eggs near the sink, flour on the table and three different plates with fruits and sugar. One with pumpkins and two with apples. Stiles craved for apple pies and their neighbor, the old Mrs. Logan, gave them two baskets of her own garden grown fruits.

The two of them, one with a glass of milk and the other with a tea, were sitting down at the table, waiting to put the pies in the oven.

"What do we do if we burn them?"

"We will give one to Mrs. Logan and act as if the two others never existed," answered the sheriff.

It was Friday evening. The sheriff had proposed to finish the pies, let Stiles take a bath, make toast with marmalade and chocolate and sit for a movie.

"I think it s time, son, since you discovered teaching could be so much more than just punishing kids, that you watch the movie that I took your mother to on our first date: Dead Poets Circle. And we will talk about it after, ok? And if you are feeling ill about anything, you just tell me."

The pies were definitely looking good. Stiles called Scott after his bath to wish him a good Thanksgiving (“We’re going to my dad’s sister, Stiles. She’s evil but at least my cousin has a giant TV”) and then sat next to his dad. The last two days had been a new territory to discover for the two of them. Stiles didn’t wish for their new understanding to end, not now and not ever.

"Oh my God Dad! That’s what you saw on your date?"

The sheriff went to the kitchen to warm some milk for Stiles.

"Your mum decided to become a teacher then. She would talk for hours about how she would reform our school system. I was too engrossed by her... Hair to pay real attention though."

“So why did she become a librarian?”

“University was too expensive, and we married young. One of her friend’s mother’s was working at the library at the time. She gave Claudia a summer job once, and your mother never quit.”

“Hm… But it was a good movie? Do you think Mr. Hale saw it?”

The sheriff shrugged: “Everyone of my generation has. Perhaps he became a teacher just to follow this path.”

“He does manage the theatre club at school. I’ll ask him.”

Stiles got to sleep in his own bed that night, his head full of his mother’s memories. It was the first time his dad had talked about the time “before Stiles” and he hoped, as his eyes closed, that, one day, he would live something that beautiful. Finding someone he would be so infatuated to he would listen to them all day long, be in awe to their words and body. Love.

 

The next morning, Stiles woke up at seven, feeling a little dizzy. He had had nightmares after dreams and dreams after nightmares and couldn’t remember at all what was in his head during the night. It has been tiring enough.

But then he smiled when he found his favorite clothes washed and folded on his desk’s chair (green jeans and a Ghostbusters’ shirt) the corridor outside his room smelled like spices, hot chocolate and pies. He smiled, still half asleep.

He wanted to surprise his mother. He liked to observe her when she thought he was still sleeping. He would walk quietly through the living room and just stay at the kitchen’s door while she was making breakfast. Pancakes and bananas were her favorites.

His naked feet didn’t make any sound as he approached the kitchen. But he was too restless and jumped right in the middle of the kitchen:

“Good morning, mum!”

Only silence answered him. He heard a noise from the first floor, but the kitchen itself was deadly empty.

“Mum?”

He walked back in the living-room, passed across his father’s office, and eyed the door leading to the cellar.

“Mum? Where are you?”

The cellar was different. It had shelves and boxes, with “Mum’s crafts” written on them. And then, only then Stiles remembered.

The awful realization that his mum would never ever come back. That she was dead. There were words before, there were looks of pity, and there was the absence of a chair, near a bed. There had been a funeral. But it was all so unreal.

There had been his grandmother taking mum’s place for a time. There had been nights when Scott would sleep over and hugged Stiles all night long.

There had been tears.

But the reality hit Stiles on this Thanksgiving’s morning and he couldn’t bear it.

He hated.

He hated this boxes he kicked violently. He hated the pies, still on the kitchen table, and threw them on the floor, hurting his right foot in the same time. He hated the photos on the wall, and the throw she had made years ago, when he was born and needed to be warm all the time.

He hated this house.

He hated it so much he didn’t hear his father running down the stairs and opened the back door to run in their garden, hating the tree, hating the abandoned garden, hating his baby bike that laid on the little garden house wall.

He hated so much he ran without stopping right to the forest and to the preserve.

His hatred and his sadness kicked back and he felt on the falling leaves and wet ground. His feet were bloody and dirty, and he was cold. It was still a November morning, and it had rained all night.

Stiles sniffled. He looked around him, feeling lost and cried some more.

“Mum… Mum… I miss you…” was the only words he could articulate.

He stayed there for what seemed hours to him and nearly blacked out.

Then arms were raising him. He automatically drew his arms around a warm neck, and his legs around a strong waist. He wasn’t that much smaller than the man who lifted him, but he was so much more solid than him. Stiles continued to cry in the neck of the stranger, feeling perhaps a little bit reassured, and feeling guilty of that.

It was only when he felt the warmness of a house, and voices he recognized, that Stiles finally came back to reality.

“Oh My God! What happened to you?”

Stiles raised his head. He was still clinging on Derek’s chest. Since it was Derek’s chest. He didn’t want to let it go though, and Derek seemed in the same state.

“Were you in the forest, Stiles?” asked Maria, washing his face with a warm wet clothes.

“I found him in the preserve,” said Derek. “He was panicking so I took him back.

“And what were you doing outside, young man?”

Talia Hale entered in the kitchen. She was seriously mad at Derek but then an air of worry crossed her face when she saw Stiles.

“I heard him! You didn’t?”

Talia frowned: “We’ll talk about it later. Get him in the bathroom and help him to get clean and dry. Franck will call his father.”

 


	14. I need an older friend, you need a younger one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles sleeps in Derek's bed. There's comfort and tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/
> 
> Trigger warnings: mention of death.
> 
> Warnings: There is a scene of nudity in this chapter. It has absolutely no sexual intent. It's a scene of comfort and help. I'm very serious about that.

If Stiles had been in better state, he surely would have been astonished by the second floor of the house. Where Derek carried him without question. Stiles was too in shock to notice this either. That a 15 year old boy could take all his body and walk up stairs without issue.

The walls were covered by photos. The majority of them were from the forest, mainly trees, landscapes, hills. Some with animals, some just wild and empty. As Stiles turned his head on Derek’s shoulder, he could see a frame containing four photos of South California, or so he thought, only in shades of blue, orange and gold. It was beautiful.

“I’ll get a bath ready. Can you stay alone just one minute?”

Stiles sighed. He didn’t want to leave the warm chest he was resting on. But Derek put him down on a wooden chair, in a large bathroom. He cringed when he saw how his dirty feet were, leaving prints on the neat floor.

“Don’t think about it,” said Derek as if reading his thoughts. “It’s Laura’s turn to clean the floor.”

“In all the house?”

“Just the second floor. She says she can’t because she’s at the University half of the time, but the twins are still too young to replace her. Here, you’ve got washcloths and towels. You can use my soap, unless you want strawberry scent, if so take Cora’s. Don’t use the yellow bottle. Maria is a hard believer of natural stuff, so the twins have the worst soap ever. It stinks.”

“Ok.”

The tub was being filled with hot water and salts. Which he never had at home though his mother liked them. Stiles shut his eyes hard, trying not to think about her. He then felt a hand on his neck, warm and steady.

“Don’t worry.”

Stiles got off his clothes quickly and dived in the bath. His muscles ached for a minute before relaxing and he felt giddy for a while. The bathroom was really pretty, with three obvious parts: a girl one, with perfumes, make up and, obviously from Cora, a Barbie doll. One for children, with bath toys, and the last containing hairs product and a book. It made Stiles laugh a little imagining Derek reading in his bath. Nude, which was quite disconcerting.

"Do you want me to wash your hair?"

In his tired mind, Stiles didn’t jump or blush. He just looked at Derek and nodded. The teenager made him bow his head and started massaging his scalp.

"Do you do that often?"

"I did, for Cora. But she is a lady now and I am not allowed to be in the room with her anymore."

“It must be great to have sisters.”

Stiles shut his eyes, almost purring to Derek’s massage. He had his arms around his knees and felt like he’d fall asleep any minute. Derek’s hand made him tilt his head backward so he could wash away the shampoo. Stiles had not that much hair, not with his buzzcut, but still, that was heaven.

“It has its goods and bads,” answered Derek quietly.

“Do you need help drying off?” He asked.

Stiles nodded lazily. He didn’t feel any shame with Derek. They had shared locker rooms enough times after their swimming practices. And he was feeling lazy. Derek’s gestures and care were so addictive it was unfair. With practiced hands, Derek managed to dry him, dress him back in his underclothes and in a large pajama shirt. He then took his hand and guided him to a small room with orange walls. One of them was covered entirely by a giant photo of an autumn forest. There was a desk and a bed, shelves with books and a basket ball on the floor.

“This is your room?”

“Yeah. You can sleep in there. Are you hungry?”

Before Stiles could answer, he found himself under covers, his back straightened by two large pillows. Derek sat on the floor, his hand just reaching for Stiles’.

“I think I’m hungry. I didn’t eat any breakfast this morning.”

“Ok,” said Derek without moving.

“Is it what it feels to have a big brother?”

“I don’t know. I don’t have one.”

“You don’t take care of your sis… Derek?”

Stiles’ eyes widened. There was a wolf… A dog… A pup? At the door.

“There’s an animal in your room.”

Derek followed his glance and frowned. The pup, a grey and white wolfy dog, took some steps in the room before stopping.

“Cora,” growled the teen. The pup let its ears fall down.

“What?”

“It’s… Cora’s dog. It’s not allowed in my bedroom, or even in the house.”

“But it’s cute! What’s its name?”

Derek growled again, which was strange. Perhaps he didn’t like dogs.

“ _Petit fouineur_ ,” said a voice behind the pup. Talia walked in with a tray of toast and warm milk. “It’s french. You could translate it as _Little Nosy_.”

She put the tray on Derek’s desk before reaching down _Petit Fouineur_ and taking it by the skin of its neck. She tossed it in the corridor before going back and shutting the door.

“So, Stiles,” she began, handing him a mug. “What happened?”

It was difficult and yet easy to speak with Talia Hale. She hadn’t any maternal feelings around her, and it was intimidating. But then, she seemed not to care about tantrum, anger, silence, or tears. When you talked to her, you had to do it directly, without letting yourself down.

“My dad and me, we discussed a lot about mum yesterday and it was cool. But then I dreamt about her and when I woke up… I thought she was still…”

“Alive?”

He nodded, not trusting himself not to cry again. Talia smiled a little, which was a little terrifying.

“So you had a fit, destroyed your kitchen and ran away.”

“How you know?”

“I called your father to reassure him. But I didn’t do just that. You both will have Thanksgiving dinner with us. I heard your father is a football fan so he’ll be just as good with Maria, Laura and Franck. And I think you need something to lighten up a little.”

She then left them, without explaining herself anymore.

Stiles yawned. He would finish his toast and then took a very long sleep. Hopefully till the evening.

“What is she talking about?”

Derek smiled quite warmly at him.

“We have some habits on Thanksgiving. I’m grounded here, and Maria and Mum are on cooking duty this year. But everyone else is going… hiking in the woods for the day. And after the dinner, some watch the games, and the others go back in the woods, to the lake with fire torch and it’s… beautiful.”

A comfortable silence took place between them. Derek took back the mug and Stiles let himself to cuddle under the covers. He felt his eyes close again and let out a long sigh.

“’M sorry,” he muttered.

“Why?”

Derek was at his side again, though he couldn’t see him now, his head diving under the warmness of the bed.

“I wanted to tell you it gets better, after Paige. But it doesn’t, does it?”

A hand came to caress his scalp again.

“I’m terrified,” murmured Derek. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. And I know it will be long before… we feel alright again, if we ever. But getting better isn’t about getting alright. It’s about living with it.”

“You sounds so mature.”

There was a sad laugh.

“That’s what my al… my mother said to me. I didn’t understand her, but now I think I’m getting it. I’m trying. I still feel guilty.”

 “It was only two days ago.”

Stiles took out his hand to reached Derek’s and squeezed.

“I think if I’d go to her bedroom sooner, if I had called the ambulance immediately instead of calling her too long, she would still be alive. The doctors told me I was wrong, but I don’t believe them. I’m still guilty.”

“I didn’t hear her. I thought she was at her home with her friends but she wanted to see me. I was in the preserve with Peter, but I didn’t hear her. I’m…”

“What if we erase the word guilty from our vocabulary?”

“I’ll think about it. Now sleep.”

 


	15. There’s something strange about this family.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Stilinskis are invited to the Hales' mansion. There are strange conversation but Cora is cool, so it's still a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/

Stiles didn’t wake up until late in the afternoon. He didn’t open his eyes, listening to the noises on the first floor and in the garden. There was a light breeze in the room so the window must have been opened. The contrast between the cool air on his nose and the warm of the bed didn’t invite him to wake up just yet.

He heard children’s laughs in the bathroom, and some pop music at the end of the corridor may be? There was a light noise of pages being turned just near his feet. Derek?

Stiles breathed deeply, he would try to get some more sleep. He hadn’t slept that good for weeks, may be months.

“So take the camera like this. Hold on, you have to stay put. Don’t move!”

Peter’s voice came from the outside. A tiny female voice answered him.

“Uncle Peter, I know how to take a photo!”

“Yes, with your little camera, I know. But this is a professional camera. You manage it with extra care.”

“I’m just taking the garden and the pumpkins!”

“I began taking pictures of Laura’s teddy bear. And now, look at me!”

“You take photos of rabbits. That’s not that different.”

There was the sound of a growl, and then more laughs. The Hales seemed to be a very happy family. So big and so warm.

Stiles let himself fall asleep again till he heard someone walk in the room.

"Derek? What happened?" Asked Mr. Hale.

"I found him in the preserve. I... Heard him."

"And why are you staying with him?" His voice was a murmur but Stiles could hear it.

"I don t know..."

"Are you feeling that you have to protect him?"

Derek took his time to answer and Stiles thought he wouldn’t t answer at all.

"May be because I couldn’t save... Save Paige?"

"Now son. Even if you had been there, you wouldn’t have been able to fight. Ennis is an alpha and you may have been as dead..."

"Better me than her!"

"Son, listen to me. Ennis will be judged. By us if we can, by the Argents if we can t. Justice will be done. But I don t think you want to protect the boy because of what happen. The link you built with him is like the one I have with all my school kids, the one Peter had for Maria even before they dated. It is strong and we don t really know how it works. But they are legends about wolves taking care of abandoned humans. So maybe it is that."

Stiles didn’t know what to think of these strange words. Wolves? That was... Bizarre but Mr. Hale’s metaphor’ were always a little strange anyways. But who was Ennis? Paige had been killed by a beast, a mountain lion had said the news on the radio.

"I think I can help him dad but... I think he helps me more."

"That’s great son. I am proud of you. Now come down, your aunt wants us to set the table while she entertains the sheriff with football."

 

Stiles waited for the two of them to leave (Derek with reluctance) He was still sleepy and a bit confused by the conversation he overheard. But maybe he hadn’t really understood it because he was sleeping at the time. It should be that. Ennis and stupid wolves’ didn’t really exist. The presence of his father in the Hales’ mansion though, was a reality.

He found, to prove this fact, a pair of black trousers and a red shirt folded on a chair, along with his “manly” shoes (he didn’t wore them for the funeral, because his mother was in love with it and he still wanted to be able to wear them during feasts without thinking about the coffin) There was even a little bowtie.

“God, he didn’t take the invitation lightly.”

Then he wondered if all the Hales will dress like this for the evening. When he eyed Derek’s wardrobe he realized that, in fact, they would. There was black pants here, with a white shirt and a cute cardigan.

“Ok…”

It was four in the afternoon and, by the time he dressed up and wandered outside the bedroom, he could hear lots of sounds coming from all over the house.

“Caroline, come back here, you won’t eat in the nude, girl!”

“Louis doesn’t want to get out of his bath, auntie! He’s taking splashing all over the place and putting water everywhere!”

“Caro shut up! I’m trying to finish my paper here!”

“Like you don’t study with your stupid music anyway!”

“Cora! Language!”

“Have anyone see my tie?”

“Here honey!”

“I need my blue one, the yellow one doesn’t fit with my shirt.”

“Derek, if you don’t go dress up now, I’m making you do the dishes all by yourself!”

Stiles’eyes widened as a very nude boy ran outside the bathroom to join a bedroom on which door a little wooden wolf was hanging. It read “Louis” on the little figure, in blue painting. A girl his age passed him with what looked like a blue dress to lock herself in the bathroom, eyeing him suspiciously on the way. And then Maria went out another room (with another little wolf and the name “Caroline” in orange) with a girl in hand, whose hairs were going in all direction.

The woman lighted up when she saw Stiles. She hugged him tightly and smiled.

“Stiles, hon, I’m so happy to see you better. You look so great in these clothes. Could you take Caroline downstairs so I will finally be able to dress in peace? Talia is going to do her hair and I think she’s in the dinner room.”

 

“There’s so many people.”

His father’s arm was around his shoulder. Since he walked in the living room and met his dad, Stiles hadn’t been able to be more than two feet from him. His dad had been afraid this morning, wondering what he had done wrong, and it took a long discussion between him, Stiles and Talia to reassure him.

“They’re only 9, son. That’s not that much. But they are very lively.”

“9 is still big.”

“Think about… a wedding party? Or something like that?”

“Ok.”

The girl he had just met three hours ago walked to them, guided by Mr. Hale.

“Stiles, this is my younger daughter, Cora. She’s your age. She’s a shy girl, and she’s been homeschooled until this year. She said she knows your friend Scott?”

The girl nodded with a sense of gravity that made Stiles nearly laugh. She looked a bit like Erica when she was working on her Catwoman suit. All serious and concentrated.

“Yes, he’s a dumb boy but he’s better than most of the others. I hate Jackson. Why do I have to socialize with him so much?”

The last question was directed at her father. He smiled sheepishly.

“The Whittemores work with your mother, Cora. So we have parties with them. We all suffer, not just you.”

“I’m in the same class as Jackson, dad. I socialize with them much more than you do.”

“Do you want to go visit Scott some times?” asked Stiles. “He has a Nintendo! And he has cards too, because Erica can’t play video games so we play cards with her.”

“Which cards though? Because Laura is a nerd and she owns like hundreds of card games and my favorite is the Werewolf. It comes from a Russian game and you have to play werewolves, or hunter, or little girl, or stuff like that, and it’s a battle between werewolves and humans. It’s fun. We could ask Derek and Laura to play with us, but the adults need to play too because you have to have as many as possible.”

“Do you have any games just for two or three?”

Cora sat on the carpet near the fireplace and Stiles joined her.

“I don’t know. Oh Hell is cool though. It’s pretty easy and we can play with a usual game. Do you want to try? I’ll find the cards.”

They didn’t play for long since Maria called for dinner half an hour later. But it was fun. Cora was fun. She had a very tricky sense of humor Stiles loved immediately. And she could talk about some stuff with Scott and her school. He hadn’t talk about that with his friend that much, between all their parents’ problems.

Stiles found himself sitting between his father and Derek, Cora in front of him with Peter and Laura. Mr. Hale and his wife were at each side of the table, the twins along with Mr. Hale and Maria with Talia.

The food was gorgeous, and when the dessert came, Stiles saw three familiar pies. He turned silently to his father.

“I managed to save one of ours, and then Mrs. Hale called me to tell me about you and invite me for dinner. So I took the pie, we tasted it and little Louis here crowned me king of pies. So I was on the pie duty all the afternoon.”

“I’m so offering you a pastry cooking book for Christmas, dad.”

After dinner, dad went to see a football game on TV with Mr. Hale and Laura, while all the others put on coats and went out to the Hales’ garden.

“Derek, take Stiles’ hand so he won’t fall. There’s not much light here.”

Maria took Louis’ hand too, but any of the others seemed to have any problem walking in the near dark.

Derek’s hand was warm in his and Stiles felt the same peace he had when Derek was washing him and keeping him in his bed. He smiled in the dark, really happy.

They had prepared torches back by the lake (they had a lake! Cora told him she learnt to swim in there and yes, he was invited to come here next summer, of course) and each one of them was given one, except for the two younger kids. Stiles really didn’t grasp why they were doing this for Thanksgiving, but Talia told them about a very old tradition running in their family and, frankly, it was fantastic.

They walked near the lake with their fired torches, and then took a large cleared path, climbing to a flat that lead them to a plane rocked surface, just above the lake. In front of them was the brilliant dark water, the forest, all pitch black, some lights from farther isolated houses, and the sky, clear and full of stars. And the moon. A very beautiful moon. They had passed the full moon by just two days (wasn’t it on Halloween night by the way?) and it was still marvelous.

“That’s fantastic!” said Stiles as he looked at the sky.

A discreet noise made him looked back at his surroundings. There was just Peter, with his camera, silently taking pictures of each of them. Without the flash.

“I hope they’ll be better than last year”, said Derek.

“So little faith, my nephew. They’ll be a blast. I’ll give you one, Stiles.”

 

All in all, when Stiles wanted to tell Derek things would get better. Maybe it wasn’t such a lie, after all.

 


	16. I don’t understand the adults’ world.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Argents are in the place! Yeah! Finally!  
> And Derek's tired to be a good son. This is only a teaser. There is a cliffhanger in there too, so, sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/
> 
> Trigger note: vague mention of death sentence (very vague) I'm very triggered by this, even in a surnatural world, so maybe some of you are as well.

Three weeks passed in a row after that. The sheriff went back to work, although he was doing paper work most of the times. He had appointments with a specialist twice a week. Scott would come sleepover on Saturday night, feeling more and more angry and depressed.

"Thanksgiving was hell. And you know what? My dad wants to go to Santa Monica for Christmas but he knows my mum always takse the Christmas shift so she won t be able to be with us on the 25th. I hate him and I swear I’ll be here for Christmas, with mum and you and even your new friends."

The Nintendo migrated to the Stilinskis’ living room too. And after two weeks Scott began to even pass his late afternoons with Stiles.

Sometimes Erica would join them and after an exciting conversation, Stiles called the Hales and Cora came along with Scott and taught them fantastic cards games.

"We still don’t have enough for playing Werewolves," she said, before asking Erica: "are you sick?" Though no one had told her anything. Erica hated her at first sight but then the girls found making fun of the boys so much entertaining that the hatred quickly disappeared.

And then there were the Saturdays. The sheriff had managed to get his mornings free so he could watch Stiles during his training. Then he left for works while the kids had lunch before going to the swimming pool. Where he had half an hour of special training with Derek.

The teen had quit the basket ball team after Paige s death so he took Stiles for a burger and ice cream before hiking a bit in the forest. Sometimes Scott, Erica, Cora or even Peter joined them. But the best times were when they were alone.

They would wander in the wild, walk to the lake, try to watch animals, then come back to the mansion for a late hot chocolate. Then any adults present would take Stiles back home where he’d wait for Scott. Weeks were going fast like that and Stiles found he liked it.

Mr. Hale had given him one book per week to read and he was currently reading White Fang which was a really cool.

It was the middle of December when coach canceled the training because of a very rare snow. Stiles found himself alone in the field, having missed the call, along with Isaac. The tall kid sighed, a white cloud escaping his lungs.

"We could ask for something warm at the library," said Stiles. "The book club is there, I think."

"Nah, I ll go home. My brother has a permission so..."

"Ok."

Isaac was one of the freaks at school, but Stiles never managed to speak with him though he sometimes would like to. Still, his feet were freezing and he really needed to get inside. Maybe he could ask Mr. Hale to call Derek so they would be able to have the day together. They could go to the other school and watch Scott play lacrosse (though his friend was not that good and his asthma didn’t help very much).

“What are you doing here?” asked the secretary when he passed in front of her desk.

“I’m looking for Mr. Hale. There’s no training and I’d like to have his son take me back home.

“His son? Derek? Oh I remember he was here for six months when he was eight. A loner boy but very gentle. Don’t bother Mr. Hale too much though.”

“Thank you.”

He walked down the corridor. The library was for the reading’ club, and the theatre’s club was in the gym. But then he saw a little girl sitting outside his classroom. She was cute, with long brown hair and big eyes.

“Hi!”

She eyed him without answering.

“You’re a new student?”

“No,” she answered. “I’m waiting for my dad.”

“Hm, ok.”

He began walking away but then stopped.

“Have you seen a man with a blue cardigan and a big nose?”

That was the most accurate description of Mr. Hale. The gym was on the other side of the school and he didn’t want to go there for nothing.

“He’s with my father. You shouldn’t bother them.”

Stiles shrugged. He was in his school searching for his teacher. So he walked to the door and opened it slightly, stopping when he overheard the name “Ennis”. His breath caught in his lung and, though he knew it wasn’t right, he stayed there, listening.

“We found him,” was saying Mr. Hale.

“We know,” said another male voice. “Our family agrees to give you all liberty to judge him.”

“It is very kind of you.”

Even at his young age, Stiles could detect sarcasm in Mr. Hale’s voice.

“But we need to know what to do with his pack. My leader wants them dead, all of them.”

“They didn’t do anything. Ennis was a violent alpha, but nothing proves his betas were like him.”

“Some will become omega and you know it.”

“Why are you here? The alpha is Talia, not me.”

“She’s meeting with the other alphas now, isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“What will be her answer?”

“My alpha is a very severe person. She won’t take any intervention of the Argents lightly.”

“We’re at a dead end. I aim for a diplomatic treaty between us. Victoria won’t agree so I need to be able to talk to your alpha. I can’t just go to her like this. And I won’t go directly to your house.”

“Ennis’ pack has three children and one human. Not counting his emissary. We can’t let anything happen to them without a trial. Ennis was independent, they wouldn’t know what he has done and why he has done it. I understand your point, Chris. Really I do. I’ll speak with my alpha.”

Stiles suddenly felt very intrusive. Words were dancing in his head, like Ennis, always Ennis, and _pack_ and _human_. Who would use the word “human”? Who was this unknown man?

He withdrew from the door and sat next to the girl, seriously hoping she wouldn’t say anything. She didn’t. She didn’t need to in fact, since Stiles shot up in surprise when the man left the classroom. He had already met him in the forest, with the woman (Kate) with the gun! What was that? Has the world become surreal? The man seemed to recognize him, as he turned to Mr. Hale.

“One of yours?”

The teacher looked at Stiles, not giving anything about surprise or anger.

“No. A friend of mine. Come on Stiles, I heard the training was cancelled. Want to join the club for a minute?”

 

“Who was he?” asked Stiles as they went to the gym.

“No one Stiles.”

“But I saw him in the forest! With…”

“No Stiles, I’m serious. One day, I promise. One day, you will have your answers, but not now. Do you trust me?”

Mr. Hale was deadly serious in fact. Stiles felt like it was not like sharing a game or even watching his neighbor’s copy to cheat during a test. It was so much bigger than that.

“Yes, I trust you. You’re the best person I know.”

Mr. Hale smiled sweetly.

“I can ask Derek to pick you up and you’ll spend your day at our house, ok? Do you meet Scott tonight?”

“No. His mother is taking him to his grandma.”

“Ok, I’ll call your dad and you’ll have a sleepover. I need to speak to Talia first, and we’ll explain something to you. I trust you Stiles. We all trust you.”

 

The snow had stopped falling when Derek arrived at the school.

“Thank you,” he said to Stiles. “I really didn’t want to go to the pool today. Too cold.”

Stiles smiled widely.

“You owe me!”

“I owe you nothing!”

“Yeah you owe me cakes! I saw the one at Martin’s this morning, and they are so yummy. Please, Derek. Please…”

The teen made a face but Stiles knew he had won. Soon they walked back to the preserve with two bags of cakes. But instead of taking the little shortcuts they used, Derek kept walking on the road.

“We take the main path today,” he said. “The forest is dangerous.”

“You sure?”

“It’s my mum’s order.”

Stiles followed him for a bit. But then he thought: Derek was a Hale. He could speak to him about what he saw? Or what he wanted to know? If Derek couldn’t answer, then it was it, he would wait for Mr. and Mrs. Hale to speak to him. But if he could…

“Who’s Ennis?”

Derek stopped abruptly, his face white dead.

“What did you say?”

“Erm… I… I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

“What did you say Stiles?”

“Who’s Ennis?”

“How did you hear that name?”

“I… Your father talked about him and I… I overheard. I’m sorry.”

“Does my father know?”

Stiles nodded, ashamed. They were on the edge of the preserve. The road leading to the Hales’ mansion was not so far now. Derek sighed.

“He’ll tell you if you need to know. I can’t tell you anything.”

“Do you want to know if your mother is in the forest?”

“I know she is. Don’t ask me questions Stiles!”

“If Ennis had killed Paige, and if he’s with your mother, don’t you want to know what…”

“Yes I do!” shot Derek, anger deforming his face. “But I can’t! They made me promise. I’m too young for this. And…”

Stiles was afraid by Derek’s behavior. The teen walked forth and back, nervous.

“Oh fuck! Follow me if you want, I don’t care.”

And then he walked right into the preserve. Stiles followed him, afraid of what he had asked.


	17. So, what do we do now?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek's actions have consequences and Talia Hale is not an alpha you want to meet when she's angry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/

Stiles managed to follow Derek through the forest. It was warmer here than on the road anyway, the trees protecting him from the coldness of the wind. He still had to nearly run to keep up. Derek was a storm of nerves and stress. Stiles could see it through his light hoodie. A very light hoodie. Wasn’t he cold or something?

Derek slowed down after twenty minutes and ordered Stiles to keep quiet. They were in a strange area, perhaps an old farm judging from the high grass, the demolished wooded construction and so on.

“Over there,” murmured Derek, leading Stiles at the back of a hangar. There was a hole in the wall where Derek entered. Stiles crawled in on his knees, trying to make as little noise as possible. They hid behind boxes and sat there.

“What…”

Derek’s hand came directly to his mouth, silencing him.

There were people in the hangar. Lots of people including Talia. The kids could see through the boxes and leaned close, arms touching.

“We’re here to discuss Ennis’ clan,” said Talia.

"What about Ennis himself?" Asked a woman. She was stunning and terrifying at the same time.

"He killed someone my pack had to protect. We are dealing with it as our traditions let us do. We have an agreement with the hunters..."

"We cannot trust them!" Shot the woman.

"I remember when you were not the most diplomatic alpha, Talia," said a man.

"Deucalion, you met me before I built my pack, before I was given the protection of Beacon Hills, before my children. We learnt concession. I agree with Kali on one point: I have no trust in Gerard Argent. His leader, Victoria, could be convinced by him to oppose us. My husband is testing another path though, with his son, Victoria s husband. And we will be cautious about them."

"I like the way you think, Talia."

"Please, have your honey moon after the meeting!"

The woman paced nervously. She was joined by another one, who simply put her hands on her shoulder to calm her.

"We need to begin the meeting, alpha."

Suddenly, Stiles recognized Beacon Hills veterinarian behind Talia. He spoke then;

"Let us keep ourselves known before protecting our owns."

And Talias’, Deucalions’ and Kalis’ faces changed. Their noses, their cheeks, their eyes so red... They had fangs.

"Derek," shuttered Stiles, feeling his legs falling under him. Derek took him in his arms (too strong arms, too warm arms) and let them sit on the cold floor. The wolves continued talking, about humans, packs without leaders, betas and omegas. About hunters and death. The only thing Stiles could think about was that his friend may not be human. And that frightened him as well as it fascinated him.

They stayed silent and unmoving for a long time. The meeting must have ended since the place seemed empty after mostly twenty minutes. And then Stiles saw two pairs of furry legs just in front of his nose.

"I think, Mr. Hale, that your mother is angry with you. She asks for you to change and show your friend your beta and your complete form, since you wanted him to know."

The voice was the one of the veterinarian. Beaton or Deaton? Something like that.

Anyway he took Stiles by the hand and forced him to leave Derek s arm. The teen was not happy with the turn of events, though his anger was directed to his mother rather than to him.

"I wanted to show him anyway," he said while undressing himself.

His face was deformed in a strange way. His eyes were of a bright blue that made Stiles sad, though he didn’t know why. There was no shame in the way Derek stood naked before him, unable to close his mouth because of his fangs. Then his shape changed again. That was more difficult to see. Derek looked like he was in pain and when he fell down, Stiles tried to reach him. Deaton managed to keep him still and Talia (since it was her) growled at him.

Another growl answered to hers. In front of Stiles was a large black wolf. It was smaller than Talia but still big. Its head could nuzzle in Stiles armpit without difficulties. That s what it did in fact before turning around Stiles, scenting him and reassuring too. Stiles let a hand fall on its fur, feeling its softness. He caressed it up to its head, its nose. The wolf opened his mouth and Stiles fingers entered, just a bit, to feel its fangs. Never in his life had Stiles seen something so beautiful.

"You are fantastic, Derek," he said, knowing his words could not express how he was feeling. Beautiful wasn’t even close to the reality. Stiles had always liked wild animals. He couldn’t have a dog, but then a dog felt too domesticated for him. He still was a child at heart and imagining his life if he had been a boy raised by wolves was still one of his fantasies. And there was so much more than that.

“I’ll be on my way,” told Deaton, but Stiles didn’t care.

Talia was already leaving the hangar and Derek followed him, Stiles near him. The boy’s hand didn’t leave the wolf’s neck for a second. They trotted behind the alpha as the snow began falling down again.

The mansion was farther than Stiles thought, and by the time they arrived in the garden, Derek was lightly pushing him ahead, as the boy felt tired. His feet were cold and he was dreaming about something hot like soup or tea or a real big pizza. With lots of cheese.

But they were welcomed by two angry men. Well, Mr. Hale didn’t seem angry but he looked worried. Peter Hale was furious, a blank white mask on his face, pale as a ghost and with his eyes plain gold.

“This day wasn’t the time! Not now, not when we have so serious business!”

He was shouting at everyone. Stiles didn’t know if he was furious at him, for being here, at Derek, because it was kind of his fault (ok no, Stiles was feeling guilty too), or at his sister, even if she was his alpha.

“Stay calm, Peter. Go prepare some clothes for the boys,” ordered Mr. Hale. Then he looked back at Talia, who was slowly turning back human, and bared his neck.

“I was the one who invited Stiles to come to us today, I didn’t know he would have gone directly to you.”

“Derek guided him,” answered Talia.

Stiles had to turn his gaze not to see her entire nudity.

“And what, Franck? You thought that if I agree to introduce Stiles, I would be more opened to this girl you want to give the bit to? Yes, I see what you wanted to do…”

“Talia, it’s not like this.”

“Shut up! I’m not in the mood.”

She walked to her husband and, though he was taller, she looked so much more important than him.

“Since Stiles is here, since he knows and since I won’t kill him, we’ll make a proper introduction this evening. He’s going through the whole schedule too, sleeping with us, living with us and being here for the next full moon. Though I would have liked a lot to have his father agree, because it is dangerous, and I really didn’t think it was the right time.”

She sighed, looking, for the first time, almost human. Her gaze went from her husband to her son, and then to Stiles.

“Don’t be afraid, Genim Stilinski. I have a whole community to protect here. Not just my family, but the city too, and every lonely creature that would seek protection from me. I can’t let myself be led by my love or affection. It’s too dangerous. Now go upstairs with my idiot of a son. I think you’ll need to speak. But nothing about the life of our community, understand Derek? It’s my part to do and I want to do it right.”

She sighed.

“The alphas I met today… I trust Deucalion, but Kali is a filthy one. I don’t want to know what I would have told your father if she had found you. Because believe me, between hurting you and biting you, I don’t know what she would have chosen. Only the fear of hunters grounds her.”

With that she disappeared in the house.

Stiles looked sheepishly at Mr. Hale but he was not in the mood for any support.

“Go to your room, Derek. I… You disappointed me today.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the majority of fics I've read, the Hales are very welcoming to Stiles. I think it would be a change if the adults, dealing with the fact that their own kid reveals their secret to a human without their direct consent, were not that delighted by it. And if Talia Hale would be a very hard woman. :)


	18. Mowgli and Peter Pan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “If you want, next year for Halloween, you’ll be Peter Pan and I’ll be Mowgli!”  
> “Why Mowgli?”  
> “Human with wolves!” answered Stiles like Derek was stupid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/
> 
> Yeah, it took long enough, since I was working on another fic. But I'll try to finish this one before Halloween ^^

Stiles found himself in Derek´s room again. He longed for the bed and cuddling with the wolf but they had more important things to do. Like talking. Stiles wanted to assure his friend that it was not his fault. He was the one who got on Derek´s nerves.

But the way the wolf went in a corner and rolled on his side like it wanted to hide, Derek didn’t look like he wanted to talk at all.

So Stiles did the only thing he could think of: he took off his cold socks and his coat and joined Derek. The wolf seemed unsure but Stiles didn’t need to ask for it to let him sit down. He curled on the animal, his arm around its neck, and plunged his face in its fur. The scent of warmth, forest and affection was over whelming. It took Stiles only seconds to fall asleep.

 

"Oh my God, they are so cute!" Said a sarcastic voice.

"I would take a photo if I wasn’t so angry."

"Cool down, Uncle. They like each other, they look like you and Maria. You know, in this very old image..."

"Circumstances were different, Laura."

Derek opened an eye. His vision was better than usual and he could scent everything from his bedroom to the garden house outside. It was always a little too much. But he didn’t want to go back to his human form. He was a coward, but facing his mother when he was a wolf was a little less bad than when he was human. Plus, cuddling with Stiles was fantastic. It was a little like cuddling with Cora or the twins, but with something else he couldn’t express. He liked the boy like a brother, a son and a member of his pack. Even if his mother would never agree with him.

“Come on, Derek,” said Peter. “Be mature. You can’t avoid a very serious discussion with Talia.”

Laura was sitting on her heels, her arms around her knees. Her nose did this little thing that showed she was a little compassionate with her little brother.

“I had this discussion, you know. When I started dating Killian and it looked serious between us. But, I must admit I didn’t make a show of myself in front of him. You are a first, Derek.”

Stiles began to wake up and Derek felt his arms tighten around his neck. He didn’t want to move at all.

“Derek?”

His nose found Stiles’ cheek and he pushed it a little, tenderly. His heart ached thinking he could have done such demonstration to Paige.

“Oh please, Derek, your sadness is sickening me,” said Laura as she got up. She left the room, leaving Peter behind and his angry face.

“She’s right. Be an adult, Derek. She’s dead, it’s over.”

The growl left his mouth before he could even think and Derek jumped on his uncle without realizing he was attacking one of his superiors. Peter always had the mind to mess with everyone. Except, most of the times, it was done for laughs, not for anger.

Peter was quicker though. He caught him on the neck and plastered him on the floor, with just his one hand.

“Stand still! You’re angry, all right. But you have a pack, the ultimate goal is to protect those who are younger and weaker than you. We know Stiles is no danger, but his father could be. And what about the next one that gets under your skin. What if it’s not a kid but a dangerous human? Will you be as selfish as now?”

“Derek? Peter? Stop please. I won’t tell my father. I swear.”

Derek whined, waiting for Peter to release him. Surrendering wasn’t in his character, but for Stiles’ sake, he could do it. So he stayed still. Peter waited two minutes before leaving them alone.

“Derek, come on,” said Stiles, his arms opened, and he could do nothing but obey, cuddling some more with the kid.

“I know it is a serious situation but I really think you being a werewolf is very cool.”

Derek let himself be a human again, happy with the fact that Stiles didn’t leave him. He wasn’t afraid and that was comforting.

“You really think so?”

“Yes!”

“I don’t want to be an adult. They’re all angry and nervous about everything.”

It was really true. Derek wanted to grow up, just to be able to leave. Even if it would just be like Laura, three days a week to go to university. Being a little free from the pack and his mother. But then again, the responsibilities were too much for him.

And he just met Stiles shy smile.

“If you want, next year for Halloween, you’ll be Peter Pan and I’ll be Mowgli!”

“Why Mowgli?”

“Human with wolves!” answered Stiles like Derek was stupid.

That made him smile.

 

***

 

“So, Derek, what were you thinking?”

They were in his mother’s office, both of them. Even Peter wasn’t here. He was in the kitchen taking care of the children, while his father was calling the sheriff.

“Answer me, Derek.”

He looked at his feet. He wanted to go to the kitchen to eat with the others. He scented pizzas and orange juice.

“I…”

He frowned, searching for his words. Talia was waiting. She was a very patient woman.

“I didn’t want to put the pack in danger, you know that.”

“I know. But there’s a difference between wanting something and doing it without thinking.”

“I guess.”

He stayed silent for a while, feeling the words forming on his tongue.

“I was angry. After Paige… I was angry because you didn’t want me to see her and when she came through the preserve and got… got killed, I… I felt guilty. But I thought you were guilty too. Because, if you had agreed to accept her, she wouldn’t have done that.”

He raised his eyes, meeting his mother’s red ones. She seemed calm, but he knew better. He looked down again.

“I felt weak and stupid because you wouldn’t let me search for her killer, or help you. You kept me in the dark and when… when Stiles asked me who was Ennis I knew. I knew what he was and where you were and that I had to see you and ask you to let me in.”

“You let Stiles go along with you though.”

“I was so angry I didn’t take care of him. But when I saw you were with other alphas, I was so frightened I knew I would…”

“You what, Derek?”

“I would kill anyone who would come close to him.”

“It’s stupid. You wouldn’t be able to kill an alpha.”

He blushed, feeling his face hot and red and ashamed.

“I would still do it.”

He heard his mother sigh deeply, like she didn’t know what to do with him.

“I wanted to finish our problem with Ennis’ pack before doing anything with the Stilinskis. Your actions will complicate all the situation.”

“You have to tell the sheriff?”

Talia didn’t answer immediately. She was eyeing him in silence, like she didn’t know what to do with him. She then asked him:

“What do you want to do, as a teenager, Derek?”

The question was strange, but Derek knew his mother and that he had to answer sincerely to her, even with the most obvious and unimportant stuff:

“I’d like to participate to the swimming competition, and having this job at the garage for the summer. And I’d like to have my own computer. And Dad thought going to camp during spring could be a good idea and that he would need someone to look out for the kids, since it will involve Stiles and his two friends, and I’d really like to go with them, even if my friends said that taking care of kids is stupid.”

“Right. Now, what do you want to do as a wolf? You don’t have to answer me like you’d do in an official meeting. Just let your wolf talk.”

It was instinct, and Derek had learnt to suppress it and control it. He was afraid to say something wrong or stupid, but a wolf couldn’t be wrong; it didn’t know what wrongness was.

“I want to be a good pack member and be able to help Laura when the time will come. I want to protect Cora and the twins and everyone who is not able to protect themselves and that I care about. I have to protect the city because it’s our territory, but, more than that, because it’s the place where my friends, my nurse, my teachers, everyone we know live.”

“Where is Stiles in this scheme?”

Derek closed his eyes, letting the wolf speak but knowing he agreed with it.

“Closer than Cora. Closer than Laura. Even closer than you.”

He let a silence pass.

“Closer than Paige.”

 


	19. I'm not a dog, Stiles...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Can you catch a ball?”  
> Stiles’ eyes widened suddenly.  
> “Or a Frisbee! That’s so cool!”  
> “I’m not a dog, Stiles.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/
> 
> Lots of feelings in this chapter.  
> And I've updated the tags too :)

“Can you catch a ball?”

Stiles’ eyes widened suddenly.

“Or a Frisbee! That’s so cool!”

“I’m not a dog, Stiles.”

They were sitting at the back of the kitchen, legs hanging over the edge of the patio. Dinner had been served but no one had heard anything from Talia and the sheriff since he arrived two hours before. Derek wanted to know what they were talking about, but his mother’s office was soundproof. What if the sheriff reacted badly and everything had to be removed from his memory? What if they had to do that to Stiles? That was a possibility, though Talia Hale was known not to use magic unless she had to.

“You’re nervous,” said Stiles. “I’m sorry about before.”

“About what?”

“I shouldn’t have talked about Ennis like that.”

The boy looked at their feet, his fists tight.

“My mother always said that using death and sorrow to take advantage of someone was a terrible, terrible sin. I didn’t know Paige that much but I shouldn’t have angered you like that, just because I was curious.”

Derek looked at Stiles with surprise. Sometimes, the boy seemed more mature than him. His hand found Stiles’ and he squeezed it.

“I loved Paige,” he began.

“You don’t have to…”

“I want you to know what she was to me, so when you remember, she won’t be just an excuse and a guiltiness for you. But a real person.”

Stiles moved so he was facing him, their hands still entwined.

“Ok, so I met her at the movies but we didn’t talk that much.”

“She wasn’t supposed to meet me and she was afraid some of you guys would tell our parents. She was a very disciplined girl, and I was the bad boy.”

“Bad boy? But you’re gentle, Derek!”

“Don’t ever say that again. I’ve a reputation, you know! It’s important in high school, you’ll see.”

Stiles laughed like Derek wasn’t serious and was making a joke. Maybe he was. It was the first time he could actually talk about his dead girlfriend and it felt good, like his soul felt better about it.

“How did you meet her?”

“I was playing basketball in the corridor…”

“You really are a bad boy,” said Stiles, concerned and maybe a little jealous.

“Shut up. I was making so much noise I disturbed her. She was playing the cello you know.”

“I’ve never heard a cello. How does it sound like?”

Before Derek would answer, a music, deep and strong, came from above, from one of the windows of the second floor. Laura…

“It’s like that. But I’ve never paid a lot of attention to it. I preferred kissing.”

Stiles’ face made a strange movement like he had eaten something terribly bad.

“Ugh… Gross…”

“That’s what you do when you like someone.”

It’s still gross. Have you cuddled with her?”

A deep blush covered Derek’s face, which made Stiles laugh so loudly that Maria came to see what was going on.

“Derek’s so red in the face! It’s funny! Does your wolf blush too?”

“A wolf doesn’t blush,” answered Maria. “But its tail can brush the floor sheepishly…”

“Like a dog?”

Maria jokingly thought for a while, a finger on her lips.

“Yes, like a dog. Don’t tell Peter I told you that.”

“I heard you,” said a voice coming from the house. “Tell Derek to come help me with the twins!”

“You heard your uncle, Derek honey.”

Reluctantly, Derek let Stiles’ finger go and returned back in the house. He heard Maria sitting down beside his friend and beginning to tell him: “So, when I learnt my boyfriend was a werewolf, we thought if it would be good or bad to tell my family.”

Derek knew the story. Talia’s and Peter’s father, the past alpha, now retired far in the Mexican desert, had asked Maria for her closest relative. She chose her sister. They made the revelation to her, and only her. She had accepted it, but with difficulties Maria never talked about. She told her story back when Laura and Derek started going to public school, and Cora received the same speech only months ago. It was made for them to realize the importance of their secret, not only for the pack, but for the humans they would hurt with it. Maria’s sister was the only one she could talk with about her family and they couldn’t visit her yet, not when her daughter wouldn’t control her shift and her son his tongue.

Said son was running naked, again, in the corridor, on the first floor, with only a red cape hanging around his neck.

“What’s this?”

“I’m Superman,” answered Louis, like Derek was an idiot.

“Superman isn’t naked,” he deadpanned.

“I don’t have his entire costume, Derek! This is… twagedy!”

“What?”

“Laura teached me another word today: twagedy!”

“This is _tragedy_ and you’re going to get cold. Come on…”

“Come here, Louis Franck Hale, or I’ll take you with my fangs!”

Peter’s voice was quite frightening, to be honest. Louis dropped his head and came to the second floor, Derek on his back. The teenager helped his uncle put the twins to sleep, and then had to read a story to Cora, who was deep in Harry Potter. After one chapter, Derek was finally able to come down, feeling nervous about what was going to happen now.

Stiles was asleep on the couch, his head on Franck’s lap.

“The sheriff is still here?” asked Derek, wanting to reach Stiles but not knowing if it would be accepted. So he stayed still, hanging at the door.

“He’s outside, alone. He’s… thinking about it. Talia and Peter went to town to meet with Alan though. It’s an urgency but if the sheriff doesn’t want his son to stay friends with us, or if he thinks we’re dangerous for him or Stiles, we’ll need to put a charm on both of them.”

“I like him you know. Like he was my brother. I said it to mum.”

Franck smiled at him and raised his hand.

“Come on kiddo. I know you meant good.”

Derek walked to his father and sat against him, feeling the arm of his father around his shoulders.

“Nobody can understand the hurt you came across when your girlfriend was killed. And we made a mistake by not telling you how our justice works. You should have been here to testify against Ennis, even if you wouldn’t have been allowed to his… judgment. Your mother is aware of it, as is your uncle, as are all of us. But you made a mistake too. I hope you understand that.”

Derek sighed. His eyes were on Stiles’ sleeping face.

“I don’t want to lose him.”

“He has a deep connection with us. I like him, Peter likes him very much, Maria too. We could ask your mother to erase the memory charm when he’ll reach sixteen, so he’ll be able to make his own decision. And you’ll never lose him, Derek. You’ll still be able to be his friend.”

“But is his father forbids me to see him?”

“Then you’ll wait. Love can wait. That’s its power. But let’s be optimistic here, ok?”

“Ok.”

 

***

 

The sheriff came back in the living room and frowned when he saw Stiles’ position. Franck immediately raised, putting Stiles down on the couch, and mentioned Derek to get up with him.

“Can I serve you some coffee, sheriff? My wife should be back in no time.”

The man just nodded before joining his son on the couch.

Not knowing what to do, Derek stayed unmoving, his eyes down.

“Stiles speaks a lot about you, you know….”

“Yes sir.”

“He has few friends, and I was happy he had someone to look up at. Other than his strangely sympathetic teacher.”

Derek raised his head and saw the ghost of a smile on his face.

“My father tends to be very enthusiastic with his job.”

“Or so I heard.”

The man sighed. His hand caressed lightly his son’s head.

“I wasn’t aware he was friend with a… a mystical creature. It’s… unsettling to say the last.”

“I’ll never hurt him.”

“A girl was killed because of one of yours.”

The voice was harsher and Derek felt like a five years old. Tears began forming in his eyes and he couldn’t bear to stay here. Thankfully his father came back with two cups of coffee.

“We’re a dangerous race, sheriff, but we’re pacifists too. But I understand your feelings.”

It was treason and Derek began to growl.

“Enough, son. Go to your room now. The sheriff is going to go home anyway.”

“We’re not waiting for you wi… your alpha?”

“She’s here. I’m hearing her car. Derek, go to your room. Now.”


	20. This wall, I’m going to destroy it.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He lost his shyness instantly and beamed at Derek.  
> “He said I could be one of the fastest! Like I could be on the team when I’ll be in junior high! How cool is that?”  
> “It’s super cool,” added Isaac.  
> Derek just nodded, a little annoyed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/
> 
> Sorry I'm not sorry...

Life in high-school was hell. Life in high-school knowing he wouldn’t be able to baby-sit Stiles during the week-end was worse. The sheriff had decided to forbid any interactions between the boys until the next Full Moon, where he would give a final answer. He needed time to think about it.

On a certain level, Derek, who still was a sane 15 years old boy, could understand that. The Stilinskis had lost a member over the summer, they were hurt so badly that the oldest drank and the youngest had panic attacks. They needed the peace and the time to settle down. He understood that. Completely.

But on his selfish side, Derek couldn’t bear to lose someone again. He had with Stiles a relationship he couldn’t have with Cora, who was a sweet but very silent child. A relationship he didn’t have with his other friends, since none knew about the werewolves’ part. And not living with that? It seemed impossible for him.

So on the Saturday, when he entered the swimming-pool and saw Stiles and Isaac chatting near the edge, he walked to them, not bothering with anything.

“You still ready for your lesson?” he asked.

Stiles looked up at him (God, he had the biggest eyes ever!), surprised, and had a shy smile.

“I don’t know. Coach wanted us to have a competition. Like knowing who’s the quickest and you know what?”

He lost his shyness instantly and beamed at Derek.

“He said I could be one of the fastest! Like I could be on the team when I’ll be in junior high! How cool is that?”

“It’s super cool,” added Isaac.

Derek just nodded, a little annoyed.

“When are you doing this?”

“In five minutes.”

“I’ll cheer on you then.”

“Thank you!”

 

Derek sat on a bench, not wanting to interrupt the kids’´ lesson. He himself was not up for any swimming. He hadn’t even bothered to take off his shorts and shirt. His coach didn’t mind anyway since Derek promised to be ready for the competition before Christmas.

The kids were divided in three groups of two. Stiles was swimming just after Isaac and waited, a little stressed, for his friend to finish his line.

He was in the good position to dive, just like Derek had taught him. If he persisted, Derek was sure he could be a quite good swimmer.

"You are not swimming today, boy?"

Derek raised his head, annoyed at being interrupted. The woman near him smiled. She was kind of beautiful, with her blond hair in a high ponytail and a swimming suit which made her curves just... Curvier.

"You’re not a teacher..."

She smiled even more.

"I’m a substitute for the junior high. I saw you last week. You swim very well..."

There was something about her that was bizarre and... Mysterious. But not really in the attractive way.

"I am Kate by the way," she said, extending her hand.

"Derek."

"Nice to see you, Derek."

Ok she was flirting with him. Which was gross and then, may be a little good. The other girls didn’t speak with him, afraid because of Paige. Or, too infatuated with his "romantic black tragedy". Kate was a nice change. She asked him about school and sports and other unimportant things. They chatted for a while before being covered by water.

Kate exclaimed her surprise with a face of anger that Derek didn’t understand.

"Go away boy. You re interrupting the adults..."

She looked at Stiles like he was a vermin she could easily step on. It didn’t go well for Derek. It was one thing to not like children (though why was she a substitute then?) but another to hate that directly on a kid. Even if he was annoying. At least, that what he thought at that time.

“Sorry miss, I promised Stiles to look for him.”

“You promised!”

“Oh boy,” exclaimed Kate. “You shouldn’t let yourself be led on by a simple kid. There’s so much more interesting things to do, for a boy like you.”

“Well…”

She was all smiling again and Derek didn’t want to be rude. She smelled like soap and sweets and a bit of ash. She may be a smoker. She was attractive. She made him forget a little about… everything.

“Maybe I could give you my email address? Or we could meet again another day?”

“Oh, you’re such a cutie. Say, we meet tomorrow? I’m quite new in the town and I could use a guide to know Beacon Hills better.”

“Ok.”

Stiles was less than pleased when Kate walked away. As was Derek.

“You were ready rude to her.”

“She’s old.”

“And? She was being gentle with me.”

“Yeah right. You didn’t even notice when she lied. What are your powers for?”

Derek’s face paled. What was he thinking speaking about this in public? Anger began rising in his chest, so violent he tried to calm down quickly. He wasn’t about to lose control that easily. Derek took Stiles by the arm and led him to the locker room.

“You said you were watching me swim! I tried very hard to dive like you told me and you didn’t even see it!”

“Stiles, shut up. Where are you going after?”

At the question, Stiles dropped his eyes down. He sighed like he was deeply affected by Derek’s nervousness.

“I have to go see Doctor Deaton. My dad said I should go directly to the clinic with my bike.”

The news froze in Derek’s mind. All anger was forgotten. Had the sheriff decided to erase Stiles’ memory so soon? So it was maybe the last time they would have together? And he was angry because Stiles fucked a potential date with an older woman who was far too creepy to be good? How could he…

“Ok, I’ll go with you. If you agree…”

“If you buy me a hot chocolate first.”

“Deal.”

 

The air outside was cold and Stiles had to wear a ridiculous wool hat with cat’s ears and a scarf bigger than him before he could step a foot on the road. He took his bike and then followed Derek through the city, to the clinic.

“I’m sorry about before.”

“’M sorry too. I swam so well. See, maybe you could see me next time? I’ll swim even better then!”

“I promise. Really this time.”

He got a hot chocolate for Stiles and a coke for him and sat on a bench in the park to drink them.

“Why did you say she lied?”

Stiles bit his lip, looking unsure.

“She said she was new here. But I met her months ago in the preserve. I told your uncle about her and another man.”

“People hike in the preserve. They’re not allowed to, but sometimes they get lost.”

“She had a gun, Derek. I swear I’m not lying or inventing it. And she gives me the creeps.”

“A gun, really? Peter didn’t talk about it. Then again, he doesn’t talk about everything with me. I’ll ask him when he comes back.”

They got up, their drinks empty.

“Where is he?”

“In San Francisco, visiting some pack. And I think he spoke about a photo exposition. He was very excited about it. He’ll come back in three days I think.”

The silence fell between them as they reached the clinic. Derek saw the cruiser of the sheriff and… his mother’s car. He wasn’t supposed to speak with Stiles but he knew that his mother would know he was with the kid. No need to hide it.

“Derek?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think we could still have a Christmas together? My friend, Scott, his parents are getting divorced and he’ll be with his aunt and grand-mother and since it’s the first Christmas without mum and my grand-mother will be in Florida and… Well… I know you must have… wolf stuff and so on, but I’d really like… Not being alone? And I think my dad likes your dad even if he’s a bit nervous about the wolf thing so…”

“Breathe, Stiles. I’ll ask my mother.”

Derek opened the door and let Stiles pass.

“And even if she refused,” he continued, knowing Talia could hear him: “I’ll go to your home and force my dad to dress as Santa Claus. With claws.”

“Oh my God, that joke was terrible and…”

Doctor Deaton was waiting for them behind his counter and Stiles wasn’t looking at him. His nose moved slightly and his eyes narrowed.

“What have you here?”

“What Mister Stilinski?” asked Deaton.

The boy hesitated. He raised his hand to the counter but didn’t touch it. Derek knew there was mountain ash there but…

“You have something there.”

“It’s just wood, Mister Stilinski. Will you follow me please? Mister Hale as well, since you’re here.”

 

Talia kept him near her though he could feel her nervousness. The sheriff looked cool enough. He had time to digest the news and seemed to be a good friend of Deaton. Still, Deaton explained to the two boys that it was just a meeting to see if Stiles was in good shape. Talia murmured to him that the emissary was going to see if any memory charm would leave no harm on the boy. The sheriff hadn’t decided yet.

“The sheriff can’t lose his memory, because of his position. And I think that, the time coming, he would be of great help to us. But for Stiles, it’s complicated. He’s young, could make a mistake. And we don’t want to have the same drama than with Paige. You understand, Derek?”

He had sighed before nodding.

Now he was here, watching Deaton examine his friend. The doctor went to his shelves and took… mountain ash from it. Only a handful of it.

“Genim,” he started. “what can you say about this?”

The boy shrugged: “It’s strange. It’s ash but… it’s special.”

“Ok. Can you take some in your hand? Yes, like that.”

Stiles was pretty serious, standing in the middle of the room with his fist clenched around the ash.

“Now, you will make a circle around yourself with the ash. Just close your eyes, visualize the circle and turn.”

“Hm, ok.”

And he did just that. And Derek saw, like his mother, the sheriff, and Deaton that the ash circle was regular, round and closing around Stiles. He felt the power of it too.

“Mrs. Hale, could you please touch Stiles?”

Talia came to the circle, but Derek knew she couldn’t do it. The mountain ash circle was working and that was unexpected. Talia tried to pass her hand through it, but without success.

“What’s going on?” asked the sheriff.

“I can’t place any charm on that boy,” answered Deaton. “Or I could, but I won’t. Your son has what we call a spark. If you agree now, or if he agrees later, I could teach him what I know about the supernatural. I won’t risk this spark with any charm.”

He then turned to Talia: “Even from your order. My decision is made.”

“I un…”

A cry of hurt replaced suddenly his mother’s response. Derek jumped to her, trying to see if she was hurt, bleeding or anything. Were there hunters in there? Was she ill? Poisoned? But then, as he saw his alpha falling on the floor, shouting and crying, he felt it. A suffering so deep and so hard he thought he could black out.

At the same time, the sheriff’s radio cringed.

“There’s a fire.”

 

 


	21. Where are you, oh captain, my captain?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey, baby boy, welcome to this world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK TO MY WONDERFUL BETA !!!!! SolitarianKnight \^o^/
> 
> So... I'm not so sorry but still... I'm sorry.  
> See you for the next part! :)

Derek remembered the first time he changed. Mother thought he made it up, but Derek was sure of it. He was in his baby bed. It was the afternoon and he had just finished his nap. He wasn’t hungry nor dirty and was just watching the sky. It was summer. He could feel the sun, the light breeze of the wind. He could hear the laugh of his big sister who was playing in the sand. And there he was. A face made of gentleness, patience, intelligence, warmness. A smile that said the baby could do whatever he wanted. There would always be someone to protect him. So the baby changed into a pup, and he remembered the feeling of his father’s arms, his big hands that laid him down carefully on the grass, the way he forbid his sister to caress him to strongly.

“Hey, baby boy, welcome to this world.”

 

The world wasn’t a garden, except if the garden was a cemetery.

There was no laugh but only sorrow.

Colors had left this world and all that lingered was grey and black.

The softness Derek tried to remember had disappeared one week ago. Hardness was the only way. Anger. Sadness. Vengeance.

Three feelings like the three coffins aligned before them, in the small cemetery of Beacon Hills. The one in the middle was the worst because it’s the smallest. Derek knew Louis wasn’t here because he was trying to sleep in the hospital, having had panic attacks after panic attacks for day after Caroline’s death. He was at the dentist with Laura that day. Because he was human and had to go to the doctor when Caroline hadn’t. It saved his life and Laura’s.

Derek sensed Cora near him. Her arm was still sore, even if her healing abilities saved her, somehow. She was there but the firefighters and Deaton got to her before anything too bad happened to her. She said before blacking out that their dad made her hide in the cellar, in the large sink to protect herself from the fire. She said she couldn’t hear him now and that it was her fault. She’s still here and Derek had an arm around her shoulders.

Peter was not at the ceremony. He didn’t speak for days. They found him wandering in the ruined house, as the ash was still warm. He wouldn’t leave, trying to find traces of his dead daughter and wife. Maria was there, cooking. She was teaching Caroline to make cookies. Peter was going crazy, he wouldn’t even see his son at the hospital. Derek thought they entrusted him to another local pack, just the time to end things in Beacon Hills.

Three coffins with only ash in them.

Derek couldn’t look at them without wanting to shout.

 

***

 

“There was mountain ash. A circle around the house.”

Alan Deaton walked back to the cruiser, his face grey and his eyes far away.

“How could they do that without anyone noticing?”

The sheriff had his arms crossed on his chest. What had been the Hales’ mansion was now a black skeleton of a house. He didn’t want to be that close to it. Even with his human senses, he was drowning in death and violence.

“There are ways to hide oneself, even from a werewolf. But I think they waited for the alpha and her second to be out of here to do their plan. Franck is… was a good wolf, but an empathic one, bordering on the omega. He could have missed it.”

“But why…”

Deaton sighed.

“I explained to you, John. When there are monsters, there are people to kill them. Even if, for us, they aren’t monsters at all. But hunters have a code and I’m trying to know why any of them would break it.”

“Any leads I could follow?”

“I’m sorry, John. I won’t break my own rules to help you. And, really, I have no idea.”

A stupid tone came then from the sheriff’s pocket. He took out a cell phone, stupidly big.

“I want to be able to reach my kid anytime,” he explained to Deaton.

He recognized the voice of Stiles’ director.

“I’m coming.”

Hanging up, he explained again: “My kid has begun a revolution in his school.”

“He’s a spark. They tend to do that.”

Deaton’s humor was misplaced. But it lightened the sheriff’s soul for a bit.

 

***

 

“Stilinski, please. Get down this desk. Now!”

“No.”

“Stiles, please! You’re making a fool…”

“I won’t go down. Look, I’m not the only one!”

Stiles was right and he fought the need to smile when he saw Andy and Lisa climbing on their own desk. It was lunch time so their tantrums had got the attention of the other classes as the kids passed by. The teachers tried to stop them but they couldn’t do anything besides trying to speak to Stiles. And Andy. And Lisa. And now Erica who took her place just next to Stiles.

The director, who was replacing Mr. Hale while they waited for a substitute, sighed.

“I called your father, Stiles. What would he say?”

“He wanted to go to the funeral with me. And since we couldn’t, I think he’ll agree with me.”

The boy crossed his arms on his chest, his chin high. He really wanted to go join the Hales this morning, but the ceremony had been strictly private. Even the werewolf (Stiles recognized the alpha Deucalion) who was waiting outside the little chapel hadn’t be able to go in.

Stiles hadn’t seen anyone after the fire. And during it, he had to stay in his father’s car, forbidden to go outside. He had to take care of Derek, but the teenager quickly dismissed him and ran to his house, howling with such despair Stiles had stayed paralyzed on his seat. And now he couldn’t even pay respect to them? To little Caroline who was all smiles and wanted to be a real princess when she would be old? To Maria who had accepted him so fast and made him think about his own mother? To Mr. Hale? The man who saved his life. Literally. The man who gave him books, and lunches, and smiles, and encouragements. The man every kid dreamed to have as a teacher, a father and a friend?

If standing up on his desk was the only thing he could do, he would do it.

“Stiles, what are you doing?”

His father was there but he didn’t seem angry. Just tired and sad. He crossed the room under the gazes of the other kids and teachers.

“Like in the movie,” said Stiles in a too weak voice. His shoulders slumped. “When their teacher has to leave, they revolt. So…”

“You’re leading a revolution.”

“I wanted to do something. He was a fantastic teacher, dad.”

“Ok.”

At this, a teacher approached them. She had been Stiles’ the year before and he had always been a little afraid of her long grey hair and wrinkles.

“We could do a card for him, Stiles. Have all kids sign it and you’ll go to Mrs. Hale to give it to the family. Will that be good enough for you? Danny wanted to do it but we didn’t have time yet.”

“Ok. I think.”

“And what about choosing flowers too?” asked Erica. “He liked flowers.”

“And books,” added another kid.

The director looked at the sheriff and sighed: “we thought about something more formal but, after all, he taught here for the kids and did a great job with it.”

They quickly organized the afternoon activities for the two classes of nine year olds, who had the most interaction with Mr. Hale. Stiles wasn’t happy, but he was concerned by this. So much that, when he was facing a blank paper to write something on it, he couldn’t find anything to say.

His dad sat at his side. It was still lunch break, and he couldn’t leave Stiles all by himself (and he still had to talk with the director about his son’s behavior).

“What’s up, kiddo?”

Stiles bit his lip, in a habit he was beginning to have and left a constant redness on his mouth.

“Are we going to be ok, dad?”

“We are. It’s going to be difficult, but we are. I couldn’t talk to you about it but I found a center that I could visit during next summer. I’ll take a two month vacancy to get there. It’s in Florida. You could see your cousin.”

“Which one?”

“Leszek. First son of one of your mother’s oldest brothers. The one who goes fishing.”

“He doesn’t go fishing dad, he’s keeping tracks of sharks! That’s so cool!”

“ How about it?”

Stiles smiled a little. He might be young, but he knew how much sacrifice it would cost his father to take such a time for himself, one year before the next sheriff’s elections.

“I spoke with Melissa. Scott’s going with us too.”

“And Derek too?”

The smile faded from the sheriff’s face. Stiles breathed deeply.

“Yeah, I know he can’t go. But we could still ask.”

“They’re going to Mexico, Stiles.”

 

***

 

“You can’t do that to me!”

“Laura, calm down…”

“No! No, don’t you dare telling me that! Don’t you dare put that much responsibility on me!”

Derek stared as Laura shot back at their mother. He wanted to leave, to go back to Louis’ room and play with him, or to go see Cora who was asleep again. But he couldn’t. Technically, he was one of the oldest members of the pack now. He had to be here, and to prevent Laura from killing their mother.

“I can’t Laura. I’m giving you…”

“Don’t you dare, mum. Think about it before saying anything!”

With that Laura stormed out of the room and Derek found himself alone with Talia. He raised his head when he heard a cry coming from her. Rising, he came to his alpha and hugged her.

“Mum?”

“I’m sorry Derek. You shouldn’t see me like this.”

“You’re my mum. You’re not just my alpha. You can cry. I want to cry all the time now.”

She smiled at him, caressing his head with her hand.

“A pack is not just an alpha, it’s a combination of members, humans and wolves, all different personalities. Do you know why our pack was powerful, Derek?”

“Because you’re a strong alpha.”

“No dear. Because I had the most fantastic, strongest, most intelligent and most peaceful husband I could dream of. And he’s not here anymore. And I just can’t…”

She sighed deeply, hugging him like she hadn’t done for years.

“I want to see my father, I want to run in the desert and be one with my blood. I want to lick at my injuries. I don’t even know if I can take care of you… I’m so, so sorry…”

Derek eased itself and looked at his mother. Talia’s eyes were red, and not because she was an alpha.

“Why don’t you say that to Laura?”

“I wanted to order her…”

“She’s like you mum. She knows she’s going to be an alpha someday, but she wants to live before, to know how different she is from everyone, to find someone to hold her. She has a boyfriend, did she tell you that? I don’t like him but she’s happy. She’s experiencing. And she wants to go to New York next year, to continue her studies. She even has a recommendation from her teachers. She has a life and she knows where she stands. She just needs time. And I need time too, mum. I can’t be a second in command now. I’m not old enough to take care of Cora and Louis. I don’t even know how to talk to him. We’re so different. I’ll just make a mess of it.”

There was a long silence between them two, then Talia’s hand came on her son’s cheek.

“When did you become so mature, Derek?”

“I had to take care of a kid. And he was so much more of an adult than me. Mum, do mates exist?”

That made her laugh, and Derek felt proud.

“No dear. It’s a legend. But we can love. I loved your father very much. He loved everyone, and that’s why he became a teacher. We thought for a long time your uncle couldn’t love anyone, and now he’s the most destroyed of us all. People, may they be human or not, can love one person, or multiple ones. You loved Paige. You loved your father. You love your sisters even if you don’t know it yet. You love Stiles. It’s natural. Keep this friendship close in your heart, son.”

 

***

 

David was so different from Mr. Hale that Stiles couldn’t believe they were brothers. He even asked for his ID card, just to make sure. When he arrived to the hotel with his father, just after school, he thought he could see Derek, or even Talia, but there was only David. Stiles didn’t want to give him the photo he chose to give them as a gift, and that he chose with his father just one hour before. It wasn’t a good photo (werewolves’ eyes tended to blur) but it showed Stiles on Derek’s back, with the twins between his legs and Cora silently judging them from aside. There had been a dinner on a warm evening, one of the only times where the sheriff had been cool enough with the werewolves’ stuff to accept the invitation. Stiles was under his control so he had agreed to go.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you. We already sent the little ones away, so they could be at peace with their family. Laura is seeing my brother-in-law at the moment too. And Talia doesn’t want to…”

“I’m here, David. Thank you.”

She had changed. The proud woman Stiles was afraid of had grey hairs and tired eyes. She walked with a little less energy but still had this aura of danger and power around her.

“Sheriff, thank you for coming. I heard you were at the house today?”

They sat on couches, David staying near the door. Stiles was silent.

“Yes. I am sure, and Alan shares my view, it was an arson. But we have no proof other than mountain ash… which would not be presented in a court. And we have no suspects.”

“Sheriff. I’m glad you’re coming into terms with our world. I knew, and Franck knew even better, how much of an asset you could be for us. An ally. I’m giving you all power on this investigation. Alan will give you all the information you need and you’ll be in touch with David here.”

“And you?”

“I’m staying alpha Hale. But I’ll take a journey to Mexico. I’m taking Peter with me. David will have… ways to contact me if you need to.”

“What about your kids?”

“Cora and Louis will be staying with Franck’s pack in San Francisco. Derek and Laura are going to finish their scholarship in New York.”

Her eyes fell on Stiles immediately, like she could sense his sadness. But she offered no support. And Stiles excused himself quickly, feeling the need to go out. His father told David he would call him soon.

“You all right?”

“I won’t see him again, will I?”

“You never know son. You never know.”

 

***

 

That night, Stiles went to bed early. The emptiness he had in his heart was still there. There were no tears, no coldness, just a black hole devoid of anything.

He still had the photo on his bedside. How was he going to give it now?

He heard his father on the phone after dinner. The Hales were leaving tomorrow. And he wouldn’t see Derek again. May be he’ll find New York fun enough and forget about him.

As he was drowning into sleep, he heard a noise on his window, a scratch or something he couldn’t place. He turned his head and was so surprised to see Derek on the other side that he stayed still for one minute before moving.

“Derek, what are you doing here?” he asked as the teenager came into his bedroom.

“I’m leaving tomorrow.”

“I know. I’m sad for your father and I wanted… And also for Maria and Caroline.”

“I know. I heard your sadness when you came to the hotel. But I didn’t want to see you with other people there.”

They sat on the bed and for the first time in days Stiles felt at ease. His hand found Derek’s and they entwined their fingers.

“You’re going to New York?”

“One of my aunts married there. She’s human but she knows the pack there. I don’t want to leave Laura alone.”

“I’m sure it’s a cool city. Will you come back?”

“I don’t know. And you? What are you going to do?”

Stiles explained to him about Florida, and hiking with Scott around Beacon Hills, and Deaton’s future lessons.

“But it won’t be the same without you.”

Remembering the photo, he took it and gave it to Derek.

“For you. I wanted to give it this afternoon but your mum… She’s frightening.”

“I know. She’s my mum. Here…”

Derek went to his backpack and gave a plastic bag to Stiles.

“I bought your Christmas present last week. It was still in my shool case. Open it.”

Stiles discovered a plush wolf, all black with blue eyes. He felt tears in his eyes.

“Thank you.”

“So you’ll remember me.”

“I’ll always remember you.”

He knew Derek had to leave soon but he didn’t want it to end now.

“Derek?”

“Yes?”

“Will you stay sleeping here? Just this night?”

“Ok.”

 

The morning after, Stiles woke up alone, as he would for the next six years of Derek’s absence of Beacon Hills.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr here : http://fourrureetcapuche.tumblr.com/

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[fanart] Oh Captain, My Captain !](https://archiveofourown.org/works/959516) by [Elica](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elica/pseuds/Elica)




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